We Just Never Learn

Now I don't claim to be a super reflective kind of guy, but tonight since everyone else is gone on Spring Break or gone home for the weekend I've had some time to sit around and think for a little bit. I actually watched a movie a few minutes ago, the name of it was Crash. It was a wonderfully made movie that I would recommend everyone to watch if you want to see a great depiction of the world we live in. It is very violent, vulgar, blunt, sad, and depressing, but isn't that what the world we live in looks like? The main focus of the movie is racism but yet at the end it doesn't offer up any kind of solution to the problem or leave you feeling motivated to do anything about this world we live in; in fact it kinda leaves you feeling like, "dang this sucks."

So I had these few thoughts. It seems like many people choose not to follow Jesus so that they can be free to live how they want and please. People don't want a "set of rules" that govern their life, and understandably so, we have enough rules in this world to follow already. It makes sense to us as humans that if we were only able to live like we pleased then we would be happy--free---liberated. Wouldn't life be its best if we only had everything we wanted?

So thinking about this, I thought on my own life. So think about yours and ask yourselves these questions: When was I the happiest in life? Fulfilled? Satisfied? When was I the most depressed? Lonely? Sad? I realize now that the times in my life when I chose to run from God and do whatever I wanted, trying to please myself, that those were the times when I ended up the most depressed---lonely- at the end of my rope. Thinking back to the times in my life when I've felt the greatest sense of gratification and fulfillment-- those times have come when I was living my life not for myself but the opposite; God. Now this sounds very trivial, I know, but then why in the heck do we keep living for ourselves and end up feeling empty instead of having abundant life following Jesus?

Who is the happiest and most fulfilled person you know? I know its not the rich kids on Laguna Beach who have everything this world could offer or your favorite actor on the big screen. They have money, beauty, power, fame, sex, material possessions, but are they happy? Just flip the channels on the TV and you'll see how empty their lives really are.

The happiest person I have ever met is a sweet lady I call Mamaw Mary. Mary is the best example I have ever seen of what an imitator of Christ should look like and it was only a few years ago that I finally understood why she was so happy all the time. This lady is over 80 years old now but she has lived her life to serve others with happiness. Every year, still to this day, she mails me a birthday card with a couple sticks of Juicy Fruit and a 1 dollar bill for another pack of gum, just incase I don't like Juicy Fruit. She drives around each day, visiting with shut-ins and widows who can't get out on their own (one of them being my Great-Grandmother), and she takes them to the grocery store, or clips their toe-nails, or combs their hair. She doesn't have to do this, but she loves God soo much that she can't help but love and serve others with her whole being. Their hasn't been one time in the 21 years of my life that I've ran into Mary and she didn't greet me with a smile, a hug, and a simple "I love you." She doesn't have much, but what she does have is the love of God in her heart and her life is overflowing with abundance and it rubs off on everyone she meets. Man that's the way I want to be, don't you? Now I don't know that I want to clip old ladies toe-nails, haha, but I do want to look back on life and feel satisfied and that my life meant something to others. A few years ago Mary's church threw her a birthday party and I remember going and seeing literally hundreds off people there to celebrate Mary's life. It was amazing, and trust me, Trinity Community is not a big place, there probably isn't 100 people in the whole area but her impact on peoples lives was very noticeable on that day. Why is she so happy and fulfilled? It sure isn't because of what this world has to offer but rather it is the love of Jesus inside her.

Following Jesus isn't about being bound by a set of rules or not being able to have fun. Being a follower of Jesus will take you on the wildest ride of your life and you'll do things you previously thought you were incapable of doing, like preaching in a tent on the island of Trinidad and searching for giant leatherback turtles in the middle of the night with no flash light. Real freedom is found in Christ. Money, beauty, power, fame, sex, material possessions and everything else this world has to offer will end up being the chains around your feet which make you a prisoner to yourself. Only through Jesus can we truly be set free to live a joyful, happy, fulfilling life.

It is no wonder that Jesus says in John 10:10 that, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."


So what life are we gonna choose? Or are we just never gonna learn?