Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus
Is Jesus enough to satisfy your every need and longing? It may seem like a silly question to those of us who are followers of Christ because we have been taught and conditioned to instinctively respond to such a question with a resounding, “Yes, of course!” But in the darkest moments of your life, at the times when you are feeling most selfish, abandoned or mistreated – is Jesus enough to fulfill your every wish and desire?
To help unify my goals for the upcoming year, I find it helpful to have a theme. In this way I can tie all my activities to a unified purpose. For next year I keep coming back to the idea of “Consume less, contribute more”. I wanted to share this with you, because as I pray through my ideas and plans, I find this theme has great potential for all who claim Christ as our Lord. What would it look like in your life if you were to consume less and contribute more?
In Matthew 25:31-46, an oft-quoted Scripture here, we find a list of things commanded by Christ for us to do. It can be overwhelming to look at this list and try and determine how you can consistently do it all: feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, provide for the poor, care for the sick and visit those in prison. While I believe we must be open to doing any of these things at all times, I think it will be far more likely and ultimately more effective if you focus on those things in the list for which you are passionate.
I’m not a morbid person, but lately I’ve been thinking more and more about the concept of “What if I only had a year to live?” I’m not currently in danger of succumbing to a physical disease and I don’t engage in a plethora of risky behaviors, so the odds are I’ve got more than a few years left on this planet. Still, what if I knew my death was imminent or even if I was privy to know the date when my life would end? How might my life change? What would I do differently or perhaps for the first time, if I suddenly realized the clock was ticking?
I believe that every true follower of Christ desires to make an impact on their world. It’s in our spiritual DNA; if we love Jesus, we will do what He tells us to do. That means making disciples of other believers, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and looking after the orphans and widows. As long as we are living out the mission of Christ, it will be our unending passion to impact our world for His glory. The question that we all need to ask ourselves is, “In what way are we making an impact for the Kingdom?”