All of my travels have made me view life a little differently. When you leave the comfort of your home, your belongings, your friends, you start to view things in a different light. First of all, what is the use of all my belongings? Entertainment? Cooking? Relaxing?
The meaning and purpose of life shifts when you leave everything you own behind. What you value is now different. Hmm... (JESUS).
What now matters is different to you. This helps when you loose your luggage too- loose your clothes and belongings you "counted on". Living in a hotel, eating meals prepared for you, and having access to a TV-- what do you do with your time? Yes, there is work- but your free time- what do I do? I've gotten so sick of TV that I've not even bothered to turn it on anymore. I then watched movies- and tv series, of which I then got sick of after a couple days. Okay, so no TV or movies, what then is my hobby or takes my attention and time? Is it a pool on the roof of a hotel? No, although nice, not important. Very nice indoor gym? No.. although exercise is very much needed.. Travel? Maybe being in an exotic location is what is important in life? No... Was in CA and got to see lots of cool things, fly over the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, etc, cool, but eh, not important. Got to be in Turkey, and Dhaka.. got to see a new culture and live it and breath it. Stressfully normalized to it eventually. Cool to see, but also gets old after a while. Maybe helicopters are where its at- these too lost their interest a week or two into using them. Books? Very nice, but hard to get motivated to read when all you want to do is sleep. Maybe sleep is the answer? No.. never slept restfully while in Dhaka. Showers? No. Food? No. Photography? No. Exploring? No. Everything gets old quickly when you are limited and stripped to the core of yourself. Your true life shows through now with how you use your time- because that is where you heart is.----Nothing is "fun" anymore or meaningful or gives you a purpose by itself. Work? Stressful, but can be fulfilling- though tiring and frustrating most of the time. Maybe money? Yes, money? Money is useful to do online shopping for items...Maybe money for paying off the honeymoon? Or paying for my wedding? Cutting back debt? No. Money is not my importance in life. Money is not my meaning or the purpose of life. None of these things listed are the purpose of life or of much value by themselves.
However... these items start having value if we start doing them for the glory of God- they start having meaning and fulfillment and purpose and satisfaction. But, our nature is not to do them for the Glory of God- we don't know how or resist our flesh.
What if we were stripped of absolutely everything material in our life? What is left? I have found relationships are a purpose of life. Its the relationship- the foundation that remains- does not matter what you have done or who you are anymore. We are just a speck of dust- a human, like everyone else. What I have found that I enjoy most is relaxing and spending time with my fiance, family, and friends. (Doing any of the above with a friend changes all of those... but doing those things alone is not fun).
What do you do if you have free time with nothing else to do? No homework, no chores, no projects, no pressures?
However, human relationships are flawed as well. Even though we can find great purpose and meaning in life through relationships- and relationships are so powerful and influential, they too are but weak, sinful, and temporary. Only Christ is perfect and His relationship the true meaning and purpose of life. Everything else fails to compare to Him... but why then is it we resist Him so much? Why do we put Jesus LAST and everything else FIRST? Why is Jesus an addition and not the sole?
Has our American materialistic life brainwashed us enough to only make Jesus an addition to our life and not our life? Our flesh revolts to surrender. To putting Him first and not US first. Even with realizing this, I still will put myself first 90% of the time. Jesus is not as real as our materialistic world we live in- the bill that needs to be paid or the chores that need to be done or the show to watch. We are too busy for Jesus. We don't rely on Jesus for anything. He is the addition and not foundational denominator. Is this not then not Christianity? Is our life our idol of worship and Jesus just an addition to our life? Something that makes us feel good? Do we use Jesus as a crutch to get by in life? Something to hope for? Or is Jesus our life? This is scary if you think about it much. Most of American Christianity uses Jesus rather then living Jesus. We don't operate our lives with the glory of God as the driving force and factor- only then is all our tasks and business okay if this is the focus. Only then does it have purpose and meaning and fulfillment.
The meaning and purpose of life shifts when you leave everything you own behind. What you value is now different. Hmm... (JESUS).
Luke 5:11 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
I like this picture from Syria...http://edudemic.com/
Americans are so self-centered. Honestly, I could care less about the Boston bomb. All of America came together for this- everyone has the flag at half mast across the nation (this is almost laughable). Yes, tragic, yes horrible, yes I wish it didn't happen. But what I care about more, is more tragic, more horrible, more devastating- Why don't Americans unite over the fact that children are dying each day due to poverty and illness? What about abortion? Yes, a young boy was killed in the Boston bomb, but millions of innocent children have died because of abortion. Why don't we unite over the sex trafficking industry? People die every day because of evil in this world. More people are going to hell faster then we can blink an eye at. Why do we not care about this? Hell is a horrible...unimaginable place that is cut off from the glory of God.
If relationships are important in life, then ultimately, I want to strive to push and show and spread the most restoring, wonderful, awe inspiring, loving relationship that has ever existed- that of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sin. Our horrible, self-centered, evil, selfish, greedy, sin. Christ loves us unconditionally and wants a restored relationship with mankind. Why don't we get this? Why do we cling to materialism and a fake self-security and meaning found in items we own- our house, car, 401K? What about instead of buying more, we gave more? What about instead of paying off debt as fast as we can (only to make another debt), we give as fast as we can? Extravagantly? Giving in the name of Christ for His glory? You can have all this world... just give me Jesus. God help me and forgive me. Hear my heart and heal me from myself. God you are all that matters, and I'm sorry I've made it all about me. I am yours and I surrender my will, my desire, my passions, my finances, my earthly possessions to be used however you see fit.
