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We were made to thrive?

The other night riding home in the car, I turned on the local Christian radio station.  The song playing had the following chorus:

  Just to know You and
To make You known
We lift Your name on High
Shine like the sun make darkness run and hide
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

Now I don't want to throw stones at the group that sings the song because, the whole, they are more theologically sound than most.  However, the one line really bothers me.  Why do we know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives? 

What about all of our brothers and sisters who are suffering persecution around the world?  For them surviving is a daily miracle in the hostile environment in which they live.  I am afraid that the line reflects the narcissistic North American mindset that makes Christianity about how great we are rather than how great Jesus is.  "We are not ordinary," we crow.  "We are world-changers."  "We are significant."

I guess this really bothers me for two major reasons.  First, it misses the point. that the primary promises of Christ are not for now, but for eternity.  Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble but that He has overcome the world (John 16:33).  This is not our best life.  Our thriving will ultimately find fulfillment in eternity.

Second, it despises small things.  Our ego drives us to be world-changers and difference-makers.  Yet the standard of our God is that we be faithful in the small things.  The widow gave her mite.  The little boy gave his tiny loaves and fishes.  The faithful stewards are commended for be faithful with the small things.  In fact, faithfulness is that standard by which our stewardships will be judged (1 Cor. 4:2).  In North America we are awed by size, by numbers and by success.  God is not.  He desires to see faithful obedience in the everyday, ordinary living of life.

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