What’s Next?

What’s next?†The ever-present question, heard every time you change schools, pick classes, or choose what happens after high school.

When I’m asked this question, I sometimes think it means I’m not good enough: “I haven’t ‘arrived’ at where they think I should be. I don’t know ‘what’s next’! I was enjoying high school, but now I’m fixated on what comes after this.”

I find myself becoming discontent, no longer happy where I am. I start comparing myself to other people. They have so many things I don’t have. A nice car. A significant other. A cat. A dog. A plan!

As I reflect on what others are doing, I get so focused on things I might do in the future that I lose sight of what God is doing in me right now.

When the apostle Paul was in prison, I’m sure he would sometimes look around and think of all the other things he could have been doing rather than sitting in a cell. In Philippians 4, after having been in chains for quite some time, he says he has “learned to be content whatever the circumstances†(verse 11).

That doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about what could happen if he were released from prison, but it didn’t consume him. Paul was excited about the possibilities, but he was also content where he was.

Notice Paul says he had to learn contentment (verses 11-12). It wasn’t like flipping a switch and everything was suddenly sunshine and roses. No, learning contentment was a process.

The Holy Spirit worked in Paul all along. In Christ, Paul was able to rest in peace and joy, equipped to do the work God put before him…and even to dream about where God would call Him next. • Kristi Dennis

• Have you ever been asked about what’s next in your future?

• Read Proverbs 3:5-6. How does it encourage you to know God is the One who can direct your steps?

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Philippians 4:12 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Philippians 4:11-13