Why Be Content?

Lately I have been battling a feeling of contentment. I live in paradise, I have a beautiful wife and a good job and to top it all off, God is starting to use me to do some amazing things. I can honestly say that life is good. But it’s not enough. When I stop reflecting on how good things are right now I realize how much more God wants to do.

For Jesus, dying on the cross wasn’t enough. He wasn’t content with what he had already accomplished. He also wanted everyone to know that he made that sacrifice for a purpose. Even after he rose from the dead he wanted his followers to know there was more to life than their own personal salvation and charged them with the responsibility of telling the know world that Jesus defeated sin for everybody.

It puts life in a different perspective and it changes how I look at the everyday. As a follower of Jesus I need to be content with the fact that Jesus died for my sins. Sometimes I’m not so sure about this and I even doubt whether or not my sins are truly gone but I shouldn’t. Instead I need to be content with my salvation, but that shouldn’t be what gets me out of bed in the morning. What gets me out of bed in the morning is God’s plan for me. God long ago set me down a path to tell others about the love and peace that I have found in unique and fresh ways. That is my destiny.

I believe God gives each of us a different and unique purpose and that includes you. What is it that you are going to do today to alter history? Are you content to merely live your life happy and secure in your own salvation or are you going to dream big and ask God to empower you for a greater purpose? The world needs playmakers like you so get in the game.

A Free Future

Thanks to Japan everyone in southern California is talking about earthquakes and what we should do to get ready in case "the big one" hits. I spent some time thinking about what I would put in an emergency kit but then I heard one guy on the radio say that a 2 week supply of food and water is a joke and that you need more than that so I gave up thinking about it. It still got me thinking tho.

As Christians I don't think we spend enough time thinking about our spiritual future. When a life emergency happens often times we aren't ready for it. When our faith gets shaken we start to doubt the reality of God and eventually ditch our faith and bury ourselves in our self misery.

To stay connected to Jesus we need to spend some time storing up spiritual things. Right now I feel the presence of God in some way or another every day and I can't imagine living my life outside of his embrace. It is important to me to do whatever I can so I never slip away from Him.

Here are 3 quick suggestions to ponder:

1. I can't overstate the importance of spending time in God's word every day. Sometimes the word of God is the only solid ground we have to stand on.

2. Having an ongoing conversation with Jesus may seem awkward at times but it is good for the soul. Churches call it prayer but to me it is an ongoing conversation.

3. Staying connected to your church is the most practical thing you can do. There will be seasons where I don't pray as much, or where its hard to find motivation to read my Bible but when I start to lose connection with my church family I know I'm in trouble.

I pray that a crisis never happens but I pray even harder that if it does I would draw closer to God and I pray that for you too.

An Ambiguous Thing

A person's purpose in life can be an ambiguous thing because it means something different to different people. A teacher might say that their purpose is to teach and a doctor might say that their purpose is to heal. For me it is something deeper than that. When a person aligns their unique gifts with the heart and vision of the Holy Spirit living inside them they begin to find their true purpose.

Want to find your purpose in life? Here are some suggestions.

1. True purpose starts with Jesus Christ. If you haven't accepted Christ into your heart then you won't find your true purpose. We can do purposeful things but life will never have a deeper sense of meaning without a relationship with Jesus.

2. Do what excites you. There are usually one or two things that really stir something with us. Each of us is programmed differently by God to have certain gifts and abilities. We are happiest when we are working in those gifts.

3. Connect to the heart of God. God cares about people. Everything he does is done to benefit humanity. We need to be thinking the same way.

Your real purpose is discovered when your gifts collide with the heart of God. Combine that with the power of Jesus and you will find an unstoppable formula for success.