Thrive (intransitive verb): to grow vigorously; to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances
Synonyms include flourish and prosper.
In my post announcing my 2020 theme word – Overcome – I reflected on a Bible Study on the concept of “Coping or Conquering.” As I’ve pondered this notion more deeply, I started looking at it from a different angle, through the use of a different question:
Do I want to survive or thrive?
Or perhaps a better question: Did God create me to survive or to thrive?
The easy answer to this question can be found in Scripture.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
God has plans for prosperity! If I’m living out His plans, not my own, then I will prosper. Flourish. Thrive.
Casting Crowns has a song from many years ago that proclaims this same sentiment. The song, of course, is called “Thrive”. The key lyrics of this upbeat melody: We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives, it’s time for us to more than just survive…We were made to thrive!
But also expressed in these lyrics, the precursor to thriving, is the request to God to “fill our hearts and flood our souls with one desire: Just to know You and to make You known.”
The first step towards thriving is to set my desire on knowing God and making Him known to others.
So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:32-35
Outside of God’s will, I am in survival mode.
Inside of God’s will, I am in thriving mode.
Surviving is self-focused, that is, doing everything for myself to “get by” or to “make it through” today. Thriving is outward-focused, service-oriented, that is, trusting God is taking care of my needs, opening the way to give freely to others of my time, talents, and resources.
Survival is a “storing up” attitude, thriving is an “emptying of self” approach. Surviving is making decisions with a scarcity mindset; thriving is making decisions with an abundance mindset. The devil wants me in survival mode – it’s where I am most sinful, selfish, and focused on the desires of the flesh.
A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. Proverbs 11:28 MSG
In survival mode, I use the physical world to cope with negative emotions, trials, and challenges. In thriving mode, I use my relationship with God, my state of gratitude, and my connection with creation to stay in the stream of life.
As I searched scripture for the word “Thrive”, I landed on these passages from Job. These sentences captured the overall meaning so well, I won’t even attempt to explain it better!
“Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
If you remove wickedness far from your tent
24 and assign your nuggets to the dust,
your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold,
the choicest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
and will lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 What you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.”
Job 22:21-28
The 12-step recovery program teaches survival skills that help those in recovery to stick it out “until the miracle happens”. This miracle is the turning point in recovery…
- When surviving becomes thriving.
- When being overwhelmed turns into being an overcomer.
- When coping becomes conquering.
I want to thrive, not just survive. Here is my wish list, my prayer, to lead me on the journey out of surviving and into thriving:
Let my fear remind me of you, God, and how you protect me in the storms of life.
Let my restlessness remind me of you, God, and how you lead me beside still waters and restore my soul.
Let my discontent remind me of you, God, and how you pour a multitude of blessings into my life.
Let my irritability remind me of you, God, and how you love me with tenderness, gentleness, and patience.
Let my resentments remind me of you, God, and how you forgive me over and over again.
Let my dishonesty remind me of you, God, and how you know everything about me and love me anyway.
Let my selfishness remind me of you, God, and how you gave up your very life so that I could live eternally.
In all things, in all ways, in all circumstances, in all emotions, let me be reminded of you, O God!
I might survive in my own power, but I can only thrive with God’s power.
And I was made to more than just survive…
I was made to thrive!