It is relatively common in churches to talk about gifts. We talk about spiritual gifts like those mentioned in Romans 12 (as one example). We talk about gifts in terms of cultivated talents like musical prowess or public speaking. We talk about gifts in terms of financial contributions. We even talk about the gift of each other and the companionship we share in the journey of faith and life. And these are all gifts… precious gifts.
But while talking about and acknowledging all of these gifts is valuable and good and should continue, I wonder at times whether we often fail to recognize perhaps God’s greatest available gift: the ability to make sense of life. As each year goes by, I am increasingly convinced that we do not possess the necessary perspective to make any real sense of our daily lives in this world — not without God’s help. And this is an incredibly significant thing. We all need to feel like our lives matter. We need to believe we have a purpose…… that we are making a difference. We all strive to achieve what we might call a fulfilled life, however we may define that.
Across the centuries, and at the heart of the human condition, we human beings have asked four basic questions… four foundational questions… in our quest to make sense of life as we live it. These questions – attended to by philosophers, artists, theologians, and poets across the globe and throughout time — can be summed up as follows:
1. What is (ultimately) real?
2. Who is well off?
3. Who is a really good person?
4. How do I become a genuinely good person?
I am convinced that it is only by receiving what is revealed by God that we can make sense of any of this. Richard Foster tells of the first sermon he heard Dallas Willard preach.
Dallas began by saying: “The crucial challenge to our faith in God is to believe that this life is a good life. It isn’t to believe that there is a God; most everyone believes that without trying. The question is, What kind of God do you believe in? In particular, do you believe in a kind of God who intends to give you a good life, a happy life, a blessed life?”
Think about this:
Question #1: What really matters to you? What do you really, truly, deeply want?
Question #2: What is all of this “following Jesus stuff” really about?
Hypothesis: What if both the above questions have the same answer? What if following Jesus in discipleship is the path that enables us to experience the fulfillment of our deepest longings?
The longer I walk this Way of Jesus, the more proof seems to accumulate for the above hypothesis. Give it some thought. Give me a call and let’s argue in good fun and good faith.
Remember, we’re all in this together.
Pastor Michael