Two simple statements that should mark the lives of every follower of Christ are “live simply” and “give generously”. In the Western world where we find ourselves the wealthiest people in history, it can be difficult to remember the way in which we have been called to live. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Proverbs 30:7-9 which says “Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, “Who is the Lord?” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.” What an amazing way to live – relying on God for daily provision, finding no pride or identity in our possessions, but rather simply trusting in God to provide.
Matthew
Change Your Life
Imagine how happy you’d be if you could change the circumstances around you to better suit your needs and desires. What would life look like for you if that were possible? Where would you live? How would you spend your days? Envisioning your ideal life is the first step to being able to create it, and you’d probably be surprised to find out that you can indeed have all the things about which you are dreaming. Before you dismiss this out of hand, I encourage you to read on; there really is a simple secret to begin changing your life today, and it’s something that anyone can do!
Living in the Kingdom of God
Most Christians feel confident that when they die, they will then enter Heaven and find joy everlasting. This is, after all, what they believe they have been promised in Scripture. What they do between now and then is of little consequence to the final result. Once they accept Jesus into their hearts, they are then guaranteed a peaceful and secure eternity. Nothing they do – or don’t do for that matter – can disqualify them from their promised rest. I don’t know about you, but this seems like a strange plan for a God who desires nothing more than to be in relationship with us. There is an inconsistency in thinking we could say a prayer once and gain His eternal favor even though we ignore Him with the rest of our lives. How do we reconcile these things?
Life is Short
Most of us, save for the most morbid, don’t sit around thinking of how short life truly is. I submit that there is value in contemplating this very thing. If we maintain our health and are genetically blessed, we have at most 90-100 years on this spinning ball of dirt. In the United States, the average lifespan for a man is 75.6 years, and a woman is 80.8. For all of the advances in Western medicine, that still leaves Americans curiously low at number 36 on the list of lifespan by Country (Wikipedia). In the grand scheme of things, 75-80 years is not a lot of time. Take away from this the fact that our first handful of years is not especially productive, and we wind up with less than 70 years to make a difference in our world.
Converts vs. Disciples
When I was growing up, there were several movies around that I think were designed with the sole purpose of scaring the daylights out of young people. These weren’t creations of Wes Craven, Stephen King or any of the well-known masters of the horror movie genre. Rather, these were Christian filmmakers and organizations producing movies depicting the end times as they interpreted them from the book of Revelation. Films like “A Thief in the Night”, “A Distant Thunder” and “A Burning Hell” (apparently all Christian movies of this genre had to begin with the letter ‘A’). The scenes in these films ranged from creepy to utterly disgusting. The shock value, however, fulfilled the purpose of the producers to scare many young adults (and quite a few not so young adults) into repentance and surrendering their lives to Christ. I wonder what happened to all those who gave their lives to Jesus? If a large number of my generation truly committed their lives to Him, why have we seen so little progress in spreading the truth of Christ in the years that have followed?