Wow, that is a lofty goal. The title of this post tells you that this one will be a broad and wide reaching post. Of course, in true Team Swap tradition we post this week a week after New Years. We have become what our fathers said I we were - Just kidding...anyway, here goes. This post talks about something that would be a great New Year’s goal. We say goals because we usually attempt to achieve those, where resolutions we just forget after a few days normally. Anyway, a week and a half late we come to you with a Biblical New Years goal.
1 Thessolians 4:11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Wow, why don’t they teach that one in college? Why don’t they talk about that standard on the news, TV and in the movies? Why is that not taught in business leadership classes? I mean wow, two short verses that really sum up what it takes to be a successful Christian / person.
Ah that is it. That is why they are not mentioned, they go against our human nature and we live in a world / society that teaches to not rebel against your human (sinful) nature. We are taught to embrace and reveal in our human nature, not work against it. We say this because if it was our nature to do these things, the Bible would not have to remind us to do them and we would not have a society largely based on doing the opposite of what the Bible teaches.
Our core nature is contrary to these things. We always want more. We want to be noticed. We want to impress the neighbors/ friends / fellow church members with our things, objects, accolades and rewards. We want to get involved in the lives of others. We want to focus the attention of failure on others, while neglecting / ignoring our own mistakes and foibles. Our desire is not to work hard, but to be lazy and make others work for our benefit. We only consider changing or fighting our true natures when we realize that our nature leads to destruction, pain or agony.
That is tough stuff, we must all be fundamentalist ...- Just kidding sort of. Seriously though, the above is a accurate description of our lives the majority of the time. Our nature is to tell people to respect us due to our status, position and title. We generally do not desire to earn and deserve the respect that we are given by others. Our nature is to be busy bodies in the lives of others - be it about their jobs, their families, their marriage, their career, their lifestyle, their homes or their car. We do this while largely ignoring our own issues. Our nature is to take the easy and cheap way when the hard and honest way is better but tougher. At our core, we are unredeemable and remain unfazed by our true nature. Yet this nature is the exact thing that leads to the majority of our pain, failure and woe.
As with most thing though there is a answer and it is simple. That answer is better emulation of Christ and His ways in our lives. Unfortunately, many times that is something we are unwilling to do because it requires us to change. We will always contend that change is the single most feared things in the lives of most people. We can and do learn to live with known pain. This ability keeps us from risking anything to change because the change is unknown, even if the end result will be better.
Simply, we all need to focus on our own lives, our own families, our own walks with God, our own activities, and our own calls from God. It will always be easier to shoot holes in those things in the lives of others lives then to deal with issues our own lives. Christ, however, commands us to do the latter. There will always be a short cut to attention and respect, but it will always come with the requirement of sacrificing some part of our character. There will always be the pull to stop, rest, and get lazy, but our call is to go the extra mile, give water the thirsty and reach the forgotten, overlooked, and neglected for God.
God, creator of the universe, master of our world, who has never lied nor forsaken us, tells us that if we follow the simple commands of the verse above we will be blessed. If we follow His commands, we will be respected and we will be honored. We will not gain these things due to our status though. We will gain them because of our character.
Our character speaks to the world about the relationship that we have with Christ. This quality character - gained from hard work, self / personal focus and control, and consistency, will lead us to a place where we are successful. We will not need to depend on the words, actions and character of others, or of groups either, to provide us with the respect we have from being doers of the word.
God commands us not to be meddlers, attention hounds, or lazy. His desire and design for us is to be people of character and respect that is earned not given. God earned our respect, love, and admiration by loving us so much that He sent His Son to save us. To be Christ like we must follow that same approach, sacrifice, hard work, consistency, and honesty to gain the attention and respect of those around us.
Today, we are not accusing you of being a meddler, we do not know, you may or may not be one. However, you are sinner, and your human nature is to be one of meddling, laziness, short cuts, and attention getting. Whatever area you struggle in, God is both willing and able to forgive you and guide you back to a better relationship with Him. We all have areas of our Christian walk that we need to improve in, let God guide you back to His way today.
