Part 1
This is the introduction for a series intended to explore some of the different viewpoints that I often encounter when talking with friends of mine. Recently I was engaged in a conversation about how meaningless life is… if it’s lived without a purpose. The question that never seems to go away is “Why am I here?” This was also the driving force behind the "hippie movement"… and to be more specific every generation since the beginning of time.
The human tendency is to always desire “more.” This is why people who are given power often abuse it. The idea that we can create our own destiny is so alluring. I absolutely agree that words carry creative power. When God created the world, he “spoke the word.” The Bible says that we were created in God’s image; therefore our words also contain creative power. However, that does not supersede the sovereignty of God… God cannot do anything that is contrary to His nature. He has to work within those parameters. We can only expect to receive that which we believe for will happen if it is aligned with God’s will.
It becomes clear that there is a certain level of personal abandonment that must be constantly evaluated and monitored if we are to find our rightful place. There is a tendency to surmise that acts of Christian service are only carried out in hopes of receiving God’s blessing in exchange. I’m persuaded that in many cases this has indeed occurred, and it has derailed many people from reaching their spiritual potential. I’m not saying that God doesn’t want to bless his children, but I am compelled to believe this statement: God is interested in the long term vision for your life, but our happiness and comfort aren’t his highest goals – Andy Park
In life you can either have God’s vision or your default self-centered/ survival vision. A survival vision says that I’ll only do what is necessary to get along in the world; I will only do what brings me happiness and satisfaction. A vision birthed of the spirit of God comes from hearing God speak. It will be impossible for you to do on your own… and it will force you to trust God absolutely. It will require an act of faith on your part to put it into motion.
There are several verses that tie in with what I have talked about… I won’t expound upon them, but I do think they need to be considered.
Proverbs 30: 8-9 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.
Proverbs 22:4 Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.
Proverbs 28: 27 He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
Paul who is an apostle/ pastor is writing to the Church in Corinth:
I Corinthians 2 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 9: 7-19 and 24-27
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? 9For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast. Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it. ... Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others; I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
