I was talking to a Buddhist monk in Thailand one day, and it really got me thinking about the motivation behind “doing good works.” For a Buddhist, they need the good in their lives to outweigh the bad in order for their afterlife to mostly be pleasant and then their reincarnation to be preferable. The way they see it, they must live a life of good in order to make their following lives “happier.” Then I thought about all the people who call themselves Christian, yet don’t ever do any good. I wondered how a guy who shaves his head, gives up all his possessions, never touches a woman, chants a dead language daily, gives up music and more is able to strive to do good, then how come people who have a perfectly clean slate are often the most prideful, lazy people I’ve ever met? (Granted, Buddhism at its core is ultimately selfish since everything is for their own “happiness” ultimately. So don’t miss my point.)
My point is that I was wondering why many Christians aren’t trying to do any good. I hear a lot of people say, “Well, God is forgiving” or “God loves me no matter what” and for some reason, those phrases cause people to do more harm than not. As I heard in a sermon recently, “God has a lot more He’d rather be doing than just forgiving us; He’d rather be blessing and using us than just forgiving us all the time” (Levi Lusko, Fresh Life Church). God didn’t just wipe our slates clean with Jesus’ death in order for us to continually make our lives miserable. He cleaned our slates in order to push us into closeness with our creator! He paid all our debts for every one of our mistakes in order that we might know the heart of the lover of our souls more intimately and live life to the fullest!!
Yes, God forgives us, but wouldn’t you rather be living in submission to how He tells us to live this life He’s created for us than in rebellion to it? Wouldn’t you rather know the heart of the meaning for our existence than running away from it?
How can you know all that and settle for coasting?!
Honestly, I want to know the answer to that question. How can you know that the most beautiful, amazing being in all of creation wants to know you deeper, and yet you run the other direction on purpose?
Run towards the light!
Sin is not a list of rules intended to box you in. It’s God’s way of telling us how to choose LIFE and not DEATH! And I don’t just mean in the afterlife. I’m talking about RIGHT NOW. I’m saying that when you sin, you invite death currently into your life, which manifests as depression, as hatred, as isolation, as sickness, as fear. Invite LIFE into your life, friends, and run towards the one who longs to embrace you. The one who longs for you to see His guidance as LOVE and desperately wants you to know Him and be in relationship with you.
Friends, do not settle on coasting through this life when Jesus has made it for you to taste the sweetness of all that He is and all that He’s made for you to be.
This is a call to you.
To all who are depressed.
To all who are alone.
To all who are lost.
To all who feel choked by the monotonies of life.
I have a secret to tell you:
there is more!
If you are delusional to thinking the “Christian life” is boring, you’ve been sorely deceived. I dance with Jesus to rap music. I’ve seen the sun set over 10 different countries while following God’s calling. God has infused me with dreams for His kingdom. I hear from Jesus daily. I’ve stepped away from depression that nearly took my life because God helped me out of it. I’ve stopped having epileptic seizures without the need for medication by obeying God’s direction on my life. I’ve found peace in God’s protection amidst severe amnesia of 18 years of my life. I’ve seen people’s physical bodies get healed in front of my eyes. People have said things over me from God about my life that I thought only I knew.
I’m sorry, but I personally don’t call that boring.
The other day, I listened to a sermon on my iPod about the importance of community while riding a van with my team. The man talked about how much God valued oneness within a community. It was a beautiful sermon. As soon as he started praying to end the sermon, he asked everyone to put their hands over their hearts. I did so, and at the same time, my teammate next to me put her arm around me in an embrace. The prayer was about grace within a community and what he just preached about (oneness and community). When he finished, I leaned out of the embrace and asked her if she had heard that I was going into prayer. She said, “No. I was listening to music and just felt the sudden need to pray for you.”
“Just out of curiosity,” I began asking her, “what were you praying for?”
“I was praying for an abundance of love and oneness to overflow from you,” she said as my lower jaw nearly fell out of the van.
“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!” I said with my eyes as much as my words.
I told her what the prayer in my iPod was saying and just started freaking out. God is SO STINKING COOL! Guys, this life never gets boring. God is endless and the more I search and learn about Him, the more I realize there is to discover. There’s ALWAYS more!
This life isn’t boring and deserves more than your autopilot.
This is a call to rev your life into hyper speed and more incredible things that you can’t even possible imagine. How can you say no to that?
