Nathan Whitaker - The One Year Impact for Living Mens Devotional: Daily Coaching for a Life of Significance

PASSION

Can anything ever separate us from Christs love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:35, 37

WHATS NEXT? It seems like an obvious question as we move into the new year.

There is a loftiness and fearlessness to the words Whats next? They could almost be considered a dare: ready to fly beyond a week of subzero temperatures, the past years disappointments, old anxieties, lingering fears, and ever-present doubt into a new day with its promise of opportunities, friendships, challenges, and uncertainty.

Whats next? With blinding clarity the words stop you in your tracks.

Its a question we have too often turned away from. Or if we dont turn away from it, we ask it quietly, under our breath, and with a spirit of timidity, hoping no one will hear.

Whats next?

Too much suspense is wrapped in whatever answer comes tumbling over the wall.

Whats next?

We remember when we asked it before, and we still remember some of the results. The disappointment and heartache of past results are still raw, too painful, and too recent to chance another foray into a world where failure seems to be the majority rule. But there were some good results also, and, well, here we stand ready to ask it again.

For you see, whats next is the only path from yesterday through whatever is going on today and into tomorrow. Its the only path from who we were through who we are to who we are meant to be.

As we march into a new year, maybe we should consider exactly who we are meant to be. Very simply and for all eternity, we are meant to be victorious children of God.

The apostle Paul had been beaten, shipwrecked, and jailed, and yet he had the audacity to ask, Whats next? Or as Paul put it, I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from Gods love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of hell can separate us from Gods love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

So where do we find the passion to stand in the sunrise of each new day and boldly ask the question, Whats next? We find it in the assurance that as children of God, Christ has our future all the way to and through eternity in His hands.

IMPACT APPLICATION: What if we approached the whats next? in the rest of our lives, knowing that we are the victorious children of God?