When you get in survivor mode, all you care about is survival. A great example of this is Aron Ralston, the hiker who became trapped in a canyon and had to cut his own arm off in order to save his life. He wasn't concerned about how weird he'd look with just one arm when the time came to choose between life or keeping his arm.
Starving children in Africa are not too concerned about the carb content of their food, global warming or gay marriage. Not that it's wrong to be concerned about those things, but once you're in survivor mode, those less important things drop away and you just care about staying alive.
There are times when survivor mode is necessary; when you need to let some important things go for the sake of survival. But once that point of danger passes you can't continue to live in survivor mode. It can be easy to get trapped in survivor mode by pessimistic predictions, bad news, and hopelessness. We can get stuck in unnecessary survivor mode because of the constant negativity that surrounds us. We can start to think that the only thing that matters is making it to the next day.
When you're in unnecessary survivor mode you give up things that are important; you live lower instead of higher.
Ephesians 4:1 says: Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
Check out what Jeremiah 29:11 says: For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Do you know who God was speaking to through Jeremiah in this scripture? People in slavery, people who were displaced. They were much worse off than you are now. They had a much bigger reason to give up than you do. Newsflash: You do not have it that bad.
Here's a little perspective to prove that point: Most of the world's population lives on about $1 a day. If you have any money at all
– even change in a jar on your dresser – you are richer than 86% of the world.
What is the calling Paul mentions in Ephesians? It is bigger than you can ask for, higher than you can imagine.
But so often we live in unnecessary survivor mode. Carrying around our pocket knife, ready to cut off our own limbs at a moments notice. In survivor mode we cut short our list of priorities, including serving God.
Live a life worthy of your calling.
What's the point pf living up? Why try, when so many others have given up, and they seem to be fine?
The point is that you are called, you have a destiny and there is something great that God has called you to.
When you are called to something higher, you have to leave what's lower.
If you could look into the future and knew that one day you would be president, how would that change how you live now? What if you knew that you would one day be a professional athlete, how would that change what you eat and how you workout today?
God's calling for you is bigger than either of those two things, because what God has called you to is the very best for you. He has a purpose and a plan for exactly what He has called you to, whether it be lawyer, pastor, athlete, president or something else entirely.
People are doing stuff all around you that is not worthy of your calling. All around you are people who have given up, people who are living lower than the call of God on their lives. They've pulled out the multitool and (figuratively) cut off their arm when it was totally unnecessary.
If you get stuck in survivor mode, you can lose your sense of destiny and purpose, and you will live lower rather than higher. You will live according to the circumstances around you instead of up to the calling God has for you.
God has a plan for your life! It's a great plan, a high plan! Live worthy of that high plan; live up to it! Live as if you had already stepping into that plan. Don't slouch down to smoking pot or watching TV all day. Live better, live higher! God has a plan, a hope and a future for you!
We are living significant lives; it's not hopeless, it's not meaningless! Live a life worthy of the calling that God has for you.
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