Enriching Your Life to the Extraordinary: Believe to Become (Part 2 of 5)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

“Mankind wants glory. We want health. We want wealth. We want happiness. We want all our needs met, all our little itches scratched. We want a painless life. We want the crown without the cross. We want the gain without the pain. We want the words of Christ’s salvation to be easy.”  John MacArthur

Michael is living the American Dream. By the world’s standards he has it all. He is married to a beautiful wife with two healthy, talented, and thriving children. Michael is the CEO of a business corporation and highly respected by his peers. He makes a three figure income and has all the latest gadgets a person could want, a fancy car, and a nice, lush suburban home. Michael and his family attend a large church in the area and he makes sure to attend every week while giving ten percent of his income in tithes. He loves his family and they go on a few vacations a year spending adequate time with each other. Finally, Michael has a close knit group of friends who he makes sure to spend time with on select weekends. This is the American Dream, right? So what could possibly be the problem?  He’s successful with his job, has more than enough money to provide for his family, and makes sure to spend time with the people he cares for. A life without problems, without pain. A life of comfort, happiness, material wealth–that’s what it’s all about, right?

On the surface, if we’ve honest, we would not fault Michael for his lifestyle. In fact, it’s what we all want in some fashion in our our life. We want what’s easy, painless, and what makes us happy. This is what our entitlement is, the right of every American.  The problem lies much deeper than money or the pursuit of success. It’s spiritual apathy. A life devoid of faith. We’re too comfortable. Risk is avoided at all costs. We want a life on control; a life where faith isn’t necessary.  Here is a definition of the “American Dream” found on http://www.yourdictionary.com: “A life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.” This cultural aspiration is so ingrained in our minds that most of us don’t think twice about whether is consistent with our faith values or whether it might be harmful in any way.  The band Switchfoot captures the American Dream mindset with their song that bears the same name: “When success is equated with excess, When we’re fighting for the beamer, the Lexus, As the heart and soul breathing the company goals, Where success is equated with excess, … I want out of this machine, It doesn’t feel like freedom.”  

Certainly there is nothing wrong with the idea of equal opportunity and pursuing your dreams without limits due to race, economic class, gender, or religion. But aspiring for material comfort and success are not necessarily core Christian values. Nor is wanting to become famous and get ahead of other people. Our line of thinking is usually: “I worked hard, I earned it, and it’s mine to do with as I please.” The Bible speaks of our resources and wealth much differently. God has entrusted us what we have. There is a huge difference between the concept of being entitled to the concept of being entrusted. Prosperity comes from His hand, not our own. If we’re gifted, attractive, creative, clever, bright, disciplined we only God to thank for them. He provided you with those skills and personality traits–He deserves all the credit.

Imagine the impact the American church would have if we began using our riches as if they belonged to God. It certainly isn’t easy to hand over are assets over to God, as evidence by our culture obsessed with material possessions, wealth, and success. Before we look at ways to change our mindset from a life of comfort to one of reckless abandon towards the call of Christ, let’s look at some facts what how blessed we are as a nation:

Today there are 6.7 billion people living on earth(as of 2009). To take this further the population of earth is 22 times as great as the United States; we comprise of only 4.5 percent of the world. The average income in America is $38,611 per person or about $105 per day. Compare this to the rest of the world. There are 2.6 billion people or 40 percent of the world’s population that make less than $2 dollars a day and 1 billion people who make less than a dollar a day or 15 percent!  This is just facts on income. There are also disturbing facts on food and water: 350 to 400 million children worldwide are hungry; 1 out of every 7 people or 854 million people do not have enough food to sustain them. Nine million people per year die due to hunger or related causes. Five million people die every year of water-related illnesses.

We are a relatively healthy nation and most of us are blessed to be able to afford health care, medicine, and a yearly checkup to the doctor. In most of the world, this is not the case. Malaria, one of the world’s deadliest diseases, claims 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths a year. In fact it’s believed by some scientists that one out of every two people who have ever lived have died of malaria. Think about that! What’s more, one third of the world’s population is estimated to be infected with Tuberculosis. In other words, two billion people! Tuberculosis is treatable and only 5 to 10 percent of the diagnosed develop full-blown TB during their lifetimes. Despite this, it’s still a worldwide health problem. Finally, the facts behind the HIV virus are astounding. HIV now infects 33 million people, 70 percent of them living in Africa. It has claimed 25 million lives since 1981. Every day more than 6,800 new people are infected and more than 5,700 die from the disease every day. Now that I’ve opened your eyes to the big picture and how good we have it here in the United States, here are a few things to keep in mind:

These facts are disturbing, but just because they make us uncomfortable doesn’t mean we should ignore them. Also these facts aren’t presented to make you feel guilty and miserable because you’ve been so blessed in life. The truth is the truth no matter how ugly it is! Lastly, we shouldn’t just throw up our hands in defeat; going back to our comfortable lives because the problems in our world are overwhelming difficult and we feel like we can’t do anything. We may not be able to save the world by ourselves, but together we can all do something.

God didn’t create us for happiness. Contrary to the American Dream there’s more to life than being successful, wealthy, respected, and comfortable living in the fruits of our labor. Look at what Jesus said when asked by a teacher of the law what the greatest commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-39) If we truly love God, we will express it by loving our neighbors, and when we truly love our neighbors, it expresses our love for God. The evidence of truth faith are acts of love for God. This can be studied further by looking at chapter 58 of the book of Isaiah where God equates true fasting(authentic worship of Him) with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and bringing justice to the poor. I strongly recommend you read this chapter to further grasp what love in action is all about before reading further.

The third great commandment is also an act of love. It’s often called the Great Commission. Before Jesus ascended into heaven He gave His disciples one last command: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) This was a radically new command at the dawning of a new age, to take the whole gospel to the entire world. So in summary, we as believers in Christ are called to:

• Love God.

• Love our neighbors.

• Go and make disciples of others who will do the same.

We are called not to give up on the world, nor retreat from it but exactly the opposite. We are to reclaim and redeem the world for Christ’s kingdom. It all sounds simple, but how do we live a life on faith dependent of God to change the world?

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20) When we read this verse we think it was used as an exaggeration that Jesus was making in order to make a point about the power of faith. We can’t literally move mountains…can we? What if we looked at this verse from a different angle and shed a new light on it? What if Jesus meant for millions of His followers to each put their faith in action by grabbing a shovel? We can challenge the mountain with one shovelful at a time. Any mountain can then be moved such as poverty, hunger, or injustice–if we have enough people picking up their shoveling and digging!

It all starts with you. God calls you to be faithful with everything you have. You aren’t called to be a superstar just a faithful, obedient servant doing small things with great love for people. You don’t have to go halfway around the world or even out of your own hometown to change the world; you just have to open your eyes. There is someone crying out to God for help. A neighbor who is diagnosed with a terminal disease. A mother who has lost her son to a car accident. A father who has lost his job. A family who has lost their home. A child who has no parents to care for her. There are lonely people who are without comfort or hope, no one to turn to. Broken, abandoned, and bruised. It all starts with where you are, if what you’ve been given, with the message you hold in your heart. The band Leeland beautifully captures the call to reach the world with love in their haunting anthem, Tears of the Saints: “There are schools full of hatred, Even churches have forsaken, Love and mercy, May we see this generation, In its state of desperation, For Your glory.” The question now becomes, how do you see the world around you? Do you see people in need of God’s love? Do you see the opportunities or the obstacles? Do you have the faith of a mustard seed? He is calling you at this very moment to do what only you can do. With everything you have He wants to love, serve, and impact the world around you. Take the first step, answer His call, and watch as the mountain tumbles down!

**If you want more information on the issues I discussed in this blog, I strongly recommend reading the book, The Hole in Our Gospel, by the President of World Vision, Richard Stearns. In my opinion it is one of the best books every written on world missions and putting our faith into action. Next week we’ll look at the principle, Dream to Discover, Part 3 of 5 of Enriching Your Life to the Extraordinary.  It’s on the call to live without fear, engaging in adventure, and discovering the world God has laid out before us. God Bless.**

Sources:

Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel. World Vision, Inc. 2009, 2010.