When We Long for Greater Significance
Significance. It’s a human need. Sometimes even greater than food and shelter, our souls long for significance. We want our lives to make a difference…to count for something. People search for meaning in all kinds of unhealthy places. Fame, money, power, status…all promise to fill the significance void. Even missionaries struggle in this area. We wonder if the work we do has eternal purpose or not. The question looms large. Am I making any difference at all?
Missionary life, with its inherent challenge, turns up the volume on a soul crying out, “I want my life to matter!”
Satan Wants Us to Feel Worthless
Our enemy, Satan, uses this natural desire for significance against us. He wants to turn our longings in the wrong direction. He spews forth lies, saying, “You are worthless. What you are doing on the mission field is having no impact. You might as well get a ‘normal’ job.” Or, he pushes us toward ministry opportunities that build our ego, but aren’t what God is asking us to do.
The need and the longing for significance were put within us by God. Because it comes from Him, it’s a wonderful, sacred desire to embrace. The Creator designed us to want to live purposefully. He wants His follower’s lives to have a deeply significant impact on others.
Ordinary People Living in Simple Obedience
Significance in the Kingdom, however, looks nothing like the picture the enemy would want us to desire.
Living a purposeful life is not about fame, money, or status. Nor does it look like the somewhat disguised “Christian version” of the same. It’s not about developing a well-known ministry. It’s not about becoming a sought-after speaker, having a huge team, or property for your ministry. Big does not equal significance in God’s perspective.
Kingdom impact comes when ordinary people live day-after-day in obedience and faith. Every step of obedience you take has a great impact. It is significant. Much more than you realize.
Tempted Toward a False Significance
It was a weird experience. I’d been asked to speak at a conference in a Christian state of India. We arrived at the venue where the meetings were taking place. Thousands had gathered in a big tent that was set up in an open field. As we got out of the car, we were escorted to special seats in a little tent beside the stage.
As my time to speak approached, I tried to focus on what God had put in my heart to share. “Use me, Lord!” I prayed.
When I walked up the stairs to the platform and stood behind the pulpit, a rush of people came running to the front. Cameras flashed from below. Afterward, as I was escorted back to my car to leave, people asked for my autograph, or for special prayer. It made me feel important…sort of. I felt the attraction, the pull of false significance.
Was I important now?
It would have been easy at that point to shift my ministry toward those kinds of opportunities…the ones that made me feel so very important. It was a temptation to give my time to these things.
Jesus spoke about the Pharisees who sought fame and status – the false significance the world offers.
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries a wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.” Matt 23:5-7
Four Principles to Reflect On
1. Significance is already ours as children of God.
At a foundational level, we must remember that nothing we do can make us more valuable and more significant in God’s eyes. His perspective on us is the one that matters!
You were already significant enough that Jesus died for you. You were important enough that He chose you. He called you to be His follower and to embrace His call to service in His Kingdom.
No more striving is needed! You are already significant and incredibly important to God.
2. Kingdom impact increases as we faithfully obey.
Our significance in the Kingdom is not an issue. We just established that. But our Kingdom impact is designed by God to increase day by day. How does that happen? Through consistent. faithful obedience. As we listen to God and do what He says, day after day, year after year…our impact grows.
3. Kingdom impact increases through multiplication.
God designed His Kingdom to grow in organic, natural ways. Jesus told the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast in Matthew 13. Those stories illustrate how it isn’t big things, but small, simple (and often hidden) things that multiply His Kingdom. These have the greatest impact.
One small step of obedience, like going over and having tea with your neighbor who doesn’t know the Lord yet. Taking time to show kindness to the widow who lost her husband. Meeting once again with that staff person who needs encouragement. Ordinary people obeying God, making disciples who make disciples…that is how the Kingdom grows and multiplies.
4. The desire for significance propels us forward.
A desire for significance, when embraced in a healthy way, pushes us toward faith for greater things. God desires to release them through us. Our longing for significance makes us want more. It’s from God. He too wants more for us! He wants to do greater things through us!
Lean In to It
Lean into the desire for significance. When questions come up in your mind? What doubts? Let God use them for good. He made you for more than you currently are seeing happen through your life. The Father does have bigger plans for you…plans for greater impact than you are currently seeing.
Interested in More?
Check out our free course where I talk more about how He chose us for great fruitfulness and other key identities. Just click the image below to sign up!
Think On It
Take a few extra minutes this week to meditate further on the parables mentioned above. They are found in Matthew 13 verses 31-33. How are you like the yeast in the dough? Like the mustard seed?
I’d love to hear any insights you have about this! Feel free to share in the comments below or on the Missionary Life Insiders Facebook page.