Day 353: That's Life: Series (Part 1)

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.

This is the start of another series leading to the end of the year. This series we are going to talk about life and uno the teachings that we have been taught for so long, that allows us or makes us see life one way and one way only. We often talk about how pain and suffering is a part of life. But as much as they are so is joy, peace, love, happiness, life is good too. We need to talk about that a bit more than we talk about all the bad things that can come out of life. Life can be rough but that is not all there is to it.

As humans we have become so overtaken with this idea of struggling through life. Fighting against something our entire lives to get to where we are. Proving that we are strong because we’ve been through something. People actually say that until you’ve experienced hardship you haven’t experienced life. We have become what seems like obsessed with the ideas of struggle. The more we’ve gone through the better the testimony. We have misconstrued what life really is. We have taught our children and we have been taught that life is a struggle. Life is hard. Prepare ourselves. Have tough skin. But what if I told you that that was wrong. What if I told you that struggling is only a small part of life compared to good. Pain is only a moment compared to the joy and happiness.

There is just as much peace as there is violence and evil. It’s in us. We have to change our perspective. Not of what we see but how we see things. We have to choose to hang on to that glimmer of hope. Life isn’t all struggle and pain. Trust me it’s not. For the moments when the pain and struggles ceases, why can’t life be butterflies and unicorns? Why can’t we enjoy life to fullest. There’s no one telling us we can’t .Life is beautiful. Life is a gift. Life is a blessing. Witnessing life is a privilege. 

There’s so much more to this life than that we overlook, because when we think about real life we only think about how hard it is. How brutal it can be. How it can chew us up and spit us out. Real life is actually beautiful and full of joy and love when we think about it. Real life is laughing with your friends until the break of dawn. Real life is taking a chance and going on that date with that person. Real life is the thrill of throwing your hands up on a roller coaster. Real life is watching your friends and family succeed and being just as happy for them as you would for yourself. It’s being able to travel across the world to climb a mountain or taste real Italian food. Real life is building up the courage to ask that girl to marry you. It’s being overwhelmed with emotion because you are so happy. Life is sharing moments, the beautiful moments the joyful moments. Life is seeing the smile on the face of someone you love because they've just accomplished something they've been going after for a while. It's seeing you prayers for people come to fruition. Life is all the little moments strung together to make up what we get to describe as living. Life is being vulnerable enough not to just cry when you’re in pain, but to cry because you are happy. Life is not being ashamed to walk down the street holding hands with your best friend because you are grateful God has blessed you with them. Life is telling your family and friends you love them. Life is hugging your family or friends. Or hugging the stranger with the free hugs sign. This may sound crazy to many of you.It sounds crazy to me as I write it. Because we have been conditioned and taught that life is hard. We’ve been trained to be tough so life doesn’t knock us down. We’ve been told since we were young kids in school that life is hard and it can get the best of us. But I want to undo all of that and tell you that you will get the best of life. It will not get the best of you.  

All this to say, we weren't prepared for the beauty of life, or the joys of life, because we've only been conditioned to be tough so that life can't knock us done. With that being said we don't really know how to enjoy life, we don't know how to relax or take a break because we want to be ahead of the game. I want to encourage your day to take a chance and see that there si more to life that being in a constant battle. God did not intend for us to struggle every moment of our lives. Believe or not He actually wants us to enjoy life. He gave us the pleasures of life to enjoy, give yourself permission to enjoy it. 

Reflection 

1. What is your perspective on life?

2. Do you find yourself constantly in the pattern of thinking of life as only a struggle?

3. What are some things you can do to change that perspective?

4. Are you rally living life to the fullest?

Prayer Time 

Allow you answer to the above questions guide your prayer today. Take the time to talk to God about life and thank Him for blessing us with a beautiful life. 

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 354!

Day 288: Living Well Series (Part 3): Our Living is a Result of Our Loving

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Ephesians 5:2

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

2 John 1:5-6

I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

John 12:34-35

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Recently I was listening to a podcast of Chad Veach he said sometime that really struck me and inspired this series. He said, “Your living is a result of your loving.” When I thought about that, it made so much sense to me and it actually shined a light on how we as Christians are living. Are we loving people the way god has purposed us to. Our entire faith, our foundation is built on love, so how we love is ultimately a result of how we live. So few words, yet so profound.

Over and over throughout the bible there is a common theme, love. God loved us, we love Him, and we love people, in that order. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus’ response was love. Love God, love people. In those two commandments we obey the law. Love impacts the way we live, it impacts who we are, and how we see people. When we come into the knowledge and understanding of God’s unconditional love towards us, it changes our lives, and ultimately changes how we live. 1 John 4:8 tells us whoever does not love does not know god because god is love, so there is no way we can walk with God and live according to Him word if we are not walking and living in love.  

I’m not sure if you’ve ever hated anyone before, but I have and I can tell you it impacts the way you live, it breeds nothing but bitterness, anger, frustration, revenge, and disappointment. It was when I learned to love that my life began to change for the better. Walking in love means walking in and with God all the days of our lives. Meaning we are full of forgiveness, humility, patience, joy, peace, kindness.  

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I propose the question, how are we loving? Are we loving God and loving people? What I’m getting at here is are we loving the way we say we are? Because how we live will show it. I can save for myself that I do always love the way I should. Sometimes I can treat people better. Sometimes I can have a bit more patience with people, with God, and myself. I’m not perfect, none of us are; but we serve a perfect God. A God who is constantly teaching us, molding us, and correcting us. So even when we aren’t loving the way we should we can turn to Christ and take an example from His life. That’s how it should look. When we truly walk in love we are walking in the light of Christ. When we walk in love we inhabit all the fruits of the spirit. When we walk in love, loving our neighbor isn’t that huge of a task. We as must learn to allow how we love dictate how we live. Meaning we must submit our hearts to Christ and allow Him to teach us how to live and walk in love. Over and over the Gospels tells us to love God and love people. If we break that down a bit, when we truly love God it will change the way we live. We will live a life devoted to Him because we love Him. We will seek His face and live according to His word because that what love does. We will not walk away from someone we love, we will not want to live apart from the person we love, so loving God automatically impacts the way we live. Anything that separates us from God we will do away with it because we love Him so much we cannot bear to be away from Him. That’s good living. Then as we love God, we love His people,  we begin to see the world through the lense or filter of God’s love. Meaning we begin to treat people the way Jesus would. Loving people the way we love ourselves means doing what we would do for ourselves and even more. How we love one another is a result of how we love God. We cannot know what love is until we know God’s love. Sometimes we are loving people the wrong way because we have yet to experience God’s love. God not only loves us but He teaches us how to love.   

All this to say, love changes the way we live. Living well means walking in love, and walking in love means walking with the Lord. Living well is a result of how we love. Are we loving the way we should? Love gives us a different outlook on life, a new perspective. Living well is loving well.

Response/Prayer Time

Respond in whatever way you feel led. Talk to God about living well by loving Him and his people. Have a conversation about what that means.  

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 289, to continue the series!