Posts
We live in a world where there is so much to do, so much that needs to be done, and far too many people who are just here for the ride. Just take for example the fact that experiences and entertainment are viewed as the same thing. Life needs to be big, exciting, and adventurous! As the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, “The person who has lived the most is not the one who has lived the longest, but the one with the richest experiences.” The only problem with that is whether you live to be old or experienced, you still die the same. That’s why you need something that reaches deeper than just the things that happen to you in life.
The holiday season is a great example. Everyone spends lots of money to create a Christmas experience. It’s a time of joy, giving, and creating wonderful memories for everyone. Christmas is one of those special times that make memories that last entire lifetimes. Disney advertises its world resort Christmas dream vacation, filled with festivities, activities, and what their website calls, “an unforgettable experience.” Are these things wrong? Of course not. It is just the best example of where the world forgets the meaning, and replaces it with the experience alone. Jesus is the true meaning of Christmas, but what we forget too often is that He is also the true meaning of everything in our lives.
Here are a few examples of things that have lost their quality of meaning in the world today. Our work is one of them. Too many people work only because they are told to, because they need to, or just for the money. Work is a great opportunity not only to accomplish something, but also to glorify God. There is a bumper sticker that says “my boss is a Jewish carpenter.” What it means is that we are workers for Jesus on earth, in a very literal sense. Even in non-ministry related work, you are a witness for Christ by showing honesty, diligence, and integrity. I like to say that when I’m at work I am doing double duty; I’m on the Wegmans payroll, but I’m also putting in hours for the Kingdom. Church is another example of where many people miss the point. I’ve heard the term “worship experience” used too much. While that can be a good thing to put us in the right spirit before God, it can’t exist apart from the purpose of giving God all the glory. Besides, the world will never come to Christ on the entertainment ticket. It has to be through the sincere worship part of the “worship experience” that will point them to God.
And lastly, life in general. The world’s mentality is like that quote by Rousseau, which said living means having rich experiences. I recently had a discussion with a student from Corning Community College on this subject. He was writing on the topic of why God lets bad things happen to us, and concluded that it is to allow us to fully experience life. “If God protected us from all harm then there really would be no point in living since we would never experience anything real,” he wrote. “We learn through experience, we learn through pain. We must experience the world on our own, through our own conscious choices to make our lives something we can look back upon and feel proud of.” He said that he had once been close to God, and had faith, but now he felt he could learn so much more about life by grasping life more fully, and learning from experiences. The only problem is, this life isn’t it. God created us to ultimately have fellowship with Him, and that won’t happen until eternity. The best thing we can do with our experiences is to give them back to God by using every opportunity to glorify Him. If we keep them to ourselves, our experiences will die with us, and then what will we have to be proud of? The whole point of this life is not to get to know ourselves, but to get to know Jesus. That is the reason He came down to earth.
So this holiday season as we celebrate the first coming to Jesus, let’s try to make it one great experience to remember! But do it first and foremost by honoring God, and letting everything else be done for His glory. Don’t put “decking the halls” above “hearkening to the herald angels.” Take time to worship the King that they sung about so long ago, who wants a place in your heart and home as much today as he did 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. That way we’ll make it a memory not only for this lifetime, but also an eternal treasure of our continuous worship of God.
Labels: ChristianTeen View, MorningStar News
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)