Monday, February 22, 2010

What's the Point?

If I asked you, "What's the point of your life?" you might give me any number of answers.  You might tell me about what you hope for your children, what you are doing in your hobbies, or your career. 

Now, what if I asked you, "What is the point of a business?"  I don't care what your business is, what it sells or what service it provides.  Regardless of market share, return on investment, or anything else, a business exists for one purpose: to make money.  No business exists for any purpose except to serve its creator by producing money. 

A hobby exists to serve you by bringing you pleasure.  A garden exists to serve you by producing food.


When you create something, whether it is a business, a hobby, a garden, or just about anything else, you create it to serve you.  God created you for a purpose.  What do you suppose that purpose is?

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Selective Listening

I titled this entry "Selective Listening" and now I am going to talk about reading, not listening.  You can deal with it.  To start, here are a couple of Bible passages that I think most Christians are fairly familiar with.
10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
Jeremiah 29:10-14

16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
 17"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
 18"Which ones?" the man inquired.
   Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
 20"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
 21Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
 22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
 23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Matthew 19:16-24

What I want to know is, why is it that when we read Jeremiah 29:11, we cling to it as a personal promise, but when we read Matthew 19:21, we say "Oh, that was a specific command for someone else" or "Jesus didn't really mean that" or whatever. 

Bull crap.

The Jeremiah verse also says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  We don't exactly have a line-item veto here.  You can't sit there and tell God, "I want the part about prospering and hope and a future, but I can do without this seeking you stuff."  Most of us aren't even thinking about asking, "What do I still lack?" because we aren't even sure we have to honor our parents and do all that.  We're in negotiations or something.

As Christians, we are supposed to try to become like Christ.  Christ didn't have any earthly possessions besides the clothes on his back.  All of the apostles gave up everything they had to follow him.  Who are we to think that we can follow Christ and not give up anything? 

Sunday, February 14, 2010

It's Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day.  The question for today, then, is are you focusing your energies on loving someone who will never love you back in the way that you deserve, or are you loving the one who has always loved you in a way you could never deserve?

If you are looking to love someone that will never love you back
I don't know.  I really feel like there should be a Tiger Woods joke here, or maybe some commentary regarding narcissism.  Regardless, hopefully I'm not talking about your boyfriend.

If you are looking to love someone that has always loved you
Jesus is still alright with me.