Growing up into a walled-up life with poverty, gives us the break to always envision a better life. The expression of the aphorism that “Dreaming at no cost” always clings to life. We always create a beautiful picture in our minds the life that we want to have. Many of us are leaving our homelands to work and take risks to cosmopolitan countries, believing that one day our lives will change. According to the latest statistics, there are millions and millions of Overseas Filipino Workers in the whole wide world. Working in all continents of the earth such as: America, Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. You can always find Filipinos working fingers to their bone for their families. Thus, millions of families are also incarcerated with longingness to their loved ones. No gender preferences, no status required, whether man or woman, single or married - all leave the country.
Breadwinner – the epithet of responsibility being laid on our shoulders. A worthy paradigm to others; while others they find it “a sacrifice”. We never stop searching for the betterment of our lives but not all jobs in the metropolis are stories of success. Not all economically developed countries are safe haven. The buildings, skyscrapers, enticing jobs and salaries are just a tip of an iceberg; the reality is what’s underneath.
Now, the million-dollar question is, “What it is to have a greener pasture to Christians?”
The dynamics of the story is the same what happened in the Book of Exodus chapter 16. “The Manna and the Quail”. Our journey in the wilderness searching for that green pasture is somehow the same in the context of Exodus. The Israelites recounted their pilgrimage to Canaan, and there, they experienced how God blessed them abundantly for forty years. Imagine a day going outside your house and see foods lying on the ground, falling from above. Miraculous, isn’t it? God knows what we need. If God was able to feed the Israelites for forty years, undoubtedly, He can do the same for us. Can we also stay with God for forty years, or more than? But what if, we see a better manna in some other places? Are we going to leave or stay?
According to the American Author, Shawn Achor “There is nothing wrong with having future goals or ambitions, but if you are constantly looking for greener pastures, you’ll never see the beauty of the ones you are currently in”. Indeed, it’s true. When what you all have is God, you have more than enough. In most instances, the ambiguity of life is becoming more focused on something bigger, something more and something better. Its positive perspective is retreating because we are always in the quest to comparative, but we always eradicate in the equation, the Superlative One – Jesus. God is bigger than all opportunities; bigger than all possibilities because He is infinite.
Likewise, the undying discontentment is a widespread to all humans even to Christians. Dissatisfaction is fatal. When you always keep searching the road to riches, we tend to miss a lot of opportunities in the vineyard of God. Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”. When interests are completely contrary to each other; when two things are entirely incompatible. You can never be a revivalist and materialist at the same time, unless you serve God though lip-homage not with the inmost heart. We should always desire the incorruptible inheritance – a treasure above and beyond.
Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”. When one’s affection is grounded on material things it debases the blessings of God, because the stream of our lives is flowing in the promises of our Great Provider-Jesus. 2 Corinthians 4:18 “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”. In the widest sense, we must not see blessings as tangible things but rather as impalpable spiritual riches.
The right scheme to success is God’s formula. Under the cloak of our ministries are ignorance that still embrace the charming idiosyncrasy while repudiating the objective of underlying effects. When a man becomes an espionage of success rather than an acolyte of God, he descends himself deeper into the blackness of a hole and this gives us a lethal symptom of Christian hypocrisy. When we preach the opposite of what we do.
Lastly and perhaps the greatest, Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”. The key to have a greener pasture is not the country you dream to be or job you want to have. It is making God our priority and seeking His kingdom above all. There is nothing greener than the pasture of God – Heaven!
