The New Year is under way, and many resolutions are already being renegotiated. How this year unfolds can depend on the choices we make and what we live for. Jesus invited us to “live life more abundantly.” But what does that mean?
Jesus gets to the very heart of what it means to be one of His followers in the midst of the realities of life. People ask questions about how their lives relate to the world and why are they here? These questions have been asked throughout history by those inside and outside the church.
Christ followers are not spiritual mannequins—a form without life. How easily we can live vicariously, but we are meant be active, willful, fruit-bearing agents of God’s kingdom. Yet, far too many are living carefully, cautious, guarded, measured, numb, detached, apathetic lives? Or on the other extreme, perfect, faultless lives without blemish. Maybe you can relate to one of these adjectives?
Do we give ourselves grief for having not lived the way we “should” live or we feel restricted to the identity others have given us. That somehow, whatever or whoever we are, it is not enough for some. There is a better way to live.
Followers of Christ are called into a relationship with God, but also called to something. Call is a word that can have many associations. Mark Labberton says that, “The heart of God’s call is this: that we receive and live the love of God for us and for the world. This is the meaning of the two great commandments, that we are made to love the Lord our God with all we are and our neighbors as ourselves.”
Rarely does God’s call come from a burning bush or a high and lofty place. God’s primary call is for us to belong to and live for the flourishing of God’s purposes in the world. At the same time, God may also call in ways that include direction in relation to our jobs, gifts, relationships and more.
The street level view of life is that humanity is on its’ own. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Are we here as result of lucky mud and its’ every man for himself? Is there hope out there somewhere in the trajectory of human suffering? Is there hope for our own personal life issues? These are heavy questions, but personal and practical.
As God’s people we are sent as God’s reassuring response to these questions, but can be evident only if we live honestly and fully before God and our neighbor. People of all ages are skeptical of rhetoric and formulas. They need to see is the “good news.” They need to see hope in you and I and our concern for the real world we live in. How many times have I heard, if I hang at your church will I meet people who are actually like Jesus? Whoa! Ouch?
There are all kinds of churches in this world, but there’s only one Jesus.
This year can be very different. We can live life far more deeply by being more concerned about God’s purposes than our own? Ask yourself, what does God want of me and how can He use me? That might include hardship and even sacrifice, but in the end it will reflect Jesus and that’s what the world needs to see.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. I John 4:11-12
