Living the Right Life

It is about what you do, not what you don’t do. As we go through life we are constantly thinking about what we want to do with the time that God gives us in this world. We all want to impact the world, we want to make a difference, and we want to be the best person that we can be. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill if you ask me, yet we hope for it every day. That is why I am writing this. We CAN change the world and we can exceed those expectations that we build for ourselves.

As I sit and think about the times that I have been upset with myself, they really have no common ground on even influencing my life. I sit around and worry about the things that I am NOT doing to change the world. I should be more loving. I should not judge. I should not cuss. I should open my bible every day. I should go to a bible study once a week, and so on. See what I mean, it is all the things that I don’t do but think I should. I mean all those things are important but really in the big scheme of things do they really matter? What matters? Loving God is the only thing that comes to my mind.

What we should focus on is what we are doing to change the world. How do we spend our time? Are we waking up every morning with the intent of changing the world. Do we wake up every morning and praise God for allowing us to make it through the night breathing and for giving us the day that is ahead of us? Do we walk by people and smile and say, “hi” even if we do not know them or if we are even having a bad day? How many times do you go out of your way for someone when you are having a bad day? How many times do you go out of your way, even if it is your friend, if you are having a good day?

We cannot be the people that are focused on what we shouldn’t do in life. We cannot sit here and look at people and say, “Well I would never do that.” or “I can’t do that.”. Who care what they are doing. God will reach them and God will redeem them, in His time plan. Why do we put so much of our energy in what we can not do? Let’s take premarital sex for example. We spend so much of our time thinking about premarital sex or even, ‘how far is to far’. We try to figure out ways to teach safe sex and abstinence within our school systems, we argue about what the bible has to say about it, and we try to break the norm and wait until marriage. Why are we wasting all this energy? Yes I think it is important, and I think that we all should consider what we want to tell our significant other in the future when they ask, but I think there are other thing that we should focus more of our time on. Like why are there millions of people dying each year of starvation, AIDS, and other diseases? Why is there still slavery and sex trafficking in every country? Do you see what I mean yet? Why do we care about this stuff that is not doing anything to impact the world?

We sit in your Christian bubbles and I watch the world go around us and never try to step out. We don’t try to make a change, and we are scared to speak up. We don’t want to break the norm and possibly be judged. Well guess what, no matter which road you choose to take you are going to be judged. You are going to be judged for staying in that bubble and not making a difference in anyone’s life, or you are going to be judged for breaking the norm and changing the world. Anyone can fit in, but it takes a true person to stand out. It is your choice! You choose which way you want to be persecuted. But remember that no matter what you choose to do you are going to be hated, persecuted, and judged by the world (John 15:18-24). But the greatest part of that is that you are going to be judged by the world. It is the world that Jesus said over and over again to hate (1 John 2:15-17). It is the love and judgment of the Father that matters.

As a Christian the hardest thing for me to hear is other people saying that Christians are judgmental. I totally agree to a point. I think that there are a ton of people out there that totally do not get the love that God desires us to have for people, but I also think there are people out there that totally get that. There are those Christians that understand what Jesus did. They understand His heart for the poor, for the needy, and for the outcasts. I work everyday to try and show this in my life. Who cares where you came from, your family situation, your mistakes, or where you were emotionally when they meet you? You are a child of God and you deserve the love that He would give everyone. As Christians we need to get better at this. How can we change the world when the world sees us as the people that do not accept them for who they are.

Jesus laid down his life for us and all he asks us to do is live a life full of love and passion for Him and for the people of the world. Sounds so easy doesn’t it? I will be the first to confess that I in no way come close to living my life this way. I am often negative and I do not praise God for everything that he has given me. But I recognize my down falls and I try to improve myself with all that the Holy Spirit gives me. God gave us the Holy Spirit so that we would not be alone, so we would have his wisdom, and so we could fight the temptations of the world. He has equipped us with everything we need, in this life, to break the norm and change the world. It doesn’t matter where you are in life and it sure the heck doesn’t matter if you have everything put together. The only thing that matters is if you want to stand out, if you want to accept the Holy Spirit into your heart, and if you want to live a life that is not satisfying to the world but satisfying to God.

Once you are ready to take that step, of complete faith ,your life will change radically. You will lose the desire of the world and you will yearn to focus on the things of God’s heart. Once the Holy Spirit is within you, you will strive to please God with your actions. Yes, it is true; it is not about the works that you do in this world. It is by grace alone that you are saved, but trust me once you get a glimpse of understanding of what grace is and means there is no way that you will want to do anything other than good works. You will want to dive into the scripture, you will want to intently pray and communicate with your Father, and you will want to be in fellowship with other Christian believers.

God gave me a passion. I am sure all of us are passionate about something in our life; teaching children, helping the sick, feeding the starving, being there for the dying, and so on… It is our passion that the Holy Spirit feeds on. When I am working in the area of my passion that is when I feel the fullest and the closest to God. I have a burning passion in my heart to help the needy; to work with children and show them the love that God has for them, to be there for them when no one else can. Maybe because of a parent dying of AIDS, a parent not being stable enough to care for them, or even a parent that is to busy working that they don’t have as much time to invest in their lives. This is how I can change the world. I can be there for them. I can change the world through their lives and I can change the world through the live of my friends that I reach out to.

So basically to sum all of this up after my long rant, YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD! You might only do small things and impact a few people but through that you are changing the world. Do not focus on the little things that you are not doing, but focus on the little things that you are doing. I have had people in my life that have completely changed me. And I know, as a living example of a changed person, that one person can change the world by changing the life of another. You might not get the credit you deserve and you may never make the headlines, but to someone you matter and to someone you changed their life. God loves those of us who are humble (1Peter 5:5-7). So go ahead, take a leap of faith, and slowly but surely you will change the world.

Written by Me
Inspired by Dr. Greene