The Western dream… no servitude

I was in year 12 when I first heard about ‘The American Dream.’ We were studying Of Mice and Men and my teacher was explaining George and Lennie’s pursuit of land to call their own as the ultimate American dream.

This goal has become the veritable ‘pot at the end of the rainbow’ for much of western society; to own a piece of land has become both the American and Australian dream. We may have masters at work, but at home we are slaves to no one. Even our political systems are built on the premise that the common man does not serve the leader, but the leader serves the common man.

As a result, one of the greatest challenges I face is that of servitude to God. No longer does my generation feel any real duty to ‘King and Country.’ In fact, if I’m honest, the concept of truly living my life in servitude to anyone seems foreign to me.

There are many who have laid down their lives for our liberty, and for that I am grateful, but I am afraid that it has created a dangerous illusion. I struggle to lay down my life in full servitude to God, because I have been falsely led to believe that my life is my own. Not only to I fail to see that I am a slave to sin or self, but I have lost all comprehension of the honour it is to serve a great master.

5 Quotes of Jesus that you’ll never hear from a ‘nominal Christian.’

There are few things that anger me more than people who claim to be followers of Jesus, but whose lives misrepresent him, and whose mouths misquote him. How often have you heard someone say that they “don’t really go for all that ‘Christian’ stuff,” but they “do believe in Jesus and His teachings; you know, like love and tolerance and ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you.’”

Anyone who claims allegiance to this man, has a responsibility to know what He says.  Jesus IS the world’s greatest champion for love and grace and mercy, but he also said a lot of other things that people seem to forget:

Mark 8:34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Matthew 22:37-38 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”

Matthew 10:37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

Money: When the Empty Cup Runneth Over

I know it’s not considered polite to talk about money. But I’m not entirely a stranger to the art of openly talking about social taboos, so today’s blog is about money.

I was talking last night to a friend about that amazing paradox that she and I and many others have experienced: that the more you give to God, the more you seem to have.

I’m not talking in some form of spiritual metaphorical jargon. I have actually personally experienced that sense of confusion on realizing that the numbers just don’t seem to add up. That there must be more money going out than coming in, and yet, somehow, my cup runneth over.

One of the best lessons that my parents taught me from a young age was to give first to the Lord. Not first when I think of it, or when I can afford it, or when I ‘feel led,’ but first every time. First when I can’t afford it. First when it means sacrifice.

I do not give in order to receive. I give as a reflection that God comes first in my life. And yet the amazing paradox is that somehow, the more I give, the more I seem to have. And I know it’s not just me.

 

10 Things the World Needs to Know About the Church

1. You can try to squash us, but you will never succeed, because even the gates of Hell will not prevail against us.
2. You can hurt us, embarrass us, and bring out the worst in us, but you can never take our lives, because they are hid with Christ in God.
3. You can try to discredit us with academics or human reasoning, but we’ll believe the God who created the brain.
4. You can accuse us of hypocrisy or the most grievous of sins, but you cannot shame us into hell, because we were never trusting in our own righteousness to keep us out of it.
5. You can hang around us, and sing with us, be loved by us, and pray with us, but only accepting Jesus as the sacrifice for your sins and the Lord of your life, makes you one of us.
6. You can despise us and reject us, but you will not surprise us, because it was done to Jesus first.
7. You can scatter us, but not one who belongs to Jesus will be lost.
8. You can tell us that our God does not exist, but we know Him in whom we have believed.
9. You can come to us, and we will embrace you, because despite our unworthiness, Jesus embraced us.
10. We will not always get it right, but we serve the One who cannot get it wrong.