Use As Directed

 If you have ever picked up a prescription from your local pharmacy, most likely you have read the phrase "use as directed" as the instructions for its use. The pharmaceutical assumption is that the prescriber has provided guidance to the recipient regarding the dosage and frequency for the medicine to be taken. Without proper guidance from the doctor or pharmacist it stands to reason that a person could overdose or not gain the full effects of the prescribed medication. Equipped with the proper instructions those risks are mitigated, we follow the "doctor's orders" and typically the condition lessens and soon we are feeling like ourselves again. Just as following the physician's instructions helps ensure we start feeling better, in life there is a Great Physician who gave us a life to live and He too provides us with instructions on how to live that life. 

As each new child is born around this world, I imagine God blessing that new life and saying "use as directed". At birth we are given a life to live which will be stockpiled with decisions and choices. Babies and young children have adults in their lives that make the majority of those decisions for them.  As we grow and learn we become more independent in our thinking process and quickly we become the one who makes those decisions, right or wrong, good or bad, we are given the free will to choose to follow the instructions or follow our own desires. 

But, how do we know what is the right choice? How do we know we are living this life we have been given "as directed"? The answer is simple, we read the instruction manual and then we talk to the Physician who gave us the life we have been called to live. What gives us the confidence to live out our life according to the instructions we have been given in His Word? The words of Jesus quickly answer that question, "For the word of God will never fail" Luke 1:37. Do not get confused, reading the Bible and building a relationship with God doesn't give us a cure for every illness, issue, or challenge that we will face in life. Just as there exists the possibility that the medicine prescribed by a doctor does not take care of our illness, there are going to be trials and tribulations in the life God gave us to live and we may not receive the answer we want just because we presented it to God and asked for the answer we want to transpire. I think of Paul in II Corinthians 12:7-10 where he explained that he asked God to take away a thorn or some sort of medical infirmity three times to no avail. Paul came to terms with the fact that the medical issue was not going to be healed, but he also had a revelation that God wanted Paul to rely less on his own abilities and lean in more on God's strength which in turn made Paul strong enough to not only endure the affliction, but to be stronger through it for the sake of God's plan for the life He gave Paul to live. 

God gave each of us a life to live, He also gave us the directions for how to use the life He gave us to live. When we attempt to live outside of the "use as directed" guidance we have at our disposal, life can get wonky and if we choose to live outside of the instructional handbook, life continues to become more and more challenging. As the Apostle Paul was training and preparing Timothy to continue the Kingdom work he had been called to do, he reassured Timothy that the Bible would be his go to instructional reference in this verse, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." II Timothy 3:16-17. 

We take the medicine that our doctors prescribe because we trust that they have the knowledge and training necessary to heal us as long as we take their guidance and "use as directed". Living life and living it to the fullest can be a much bigger challenge. Building a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior gives us comfort, strength, and encouragement that if we take His guidance and "use as directed" we will fulfill His will and purpose for the life we have been given to live! 

Coach Carter