The Lamb who died to save us is the Shepherd who lives to lead us. From ODB
The Object of Life
I read once where ‘The object of life is not happiness, but to serve God… If one understands this and drops his idiotic notion that the meaning of life is personal happiness, then one will be flooded with happiness…’
Personal happiness comes in many shapes and forms though, from the pursuit of a loving family life in spite of poor financial circumstances, to a purely selfish love of money, power or greed.
But those who put their hope, joy and confidence in anything other than serving God live in a dreamworld. For no matter what pleasures they seek, or assets they store up for themselves here on earth, when it comes to the end of their life it is all left behind.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
From my Bible notes from this and similar passages:
Storing up treasures in heaven is accomplished by all acts of obedience to God. There is a sense in which giving to God’s work is like investing in heaven, but our intention should be to seek the fulfillment of God’s purpose for our lives in all we do.
Should all believers sell up everything they own in order to do good with the proceeds? No.
We are responsible to care for our own needs and the needs of our families so as not to be a burden on others.
We should, however, be willing to give up anything if God asks us to do so. This kind of attitude allows nothing to come between us and God, and keeps us from using our God-given gifts, talents and wealth in a selfish way.
If you are comforted by the fact that Christ did not tell his followers to sell all their possessions, then you may be too attached to what you have, and/or the security of the life you are living.
Not long after Suzanne and I were married we found ourselves doing a “family and friends” farewell trip down the east coast of Australia prior to heading off to Hong Kong and China for a then as yet undetermined period of time.
During one of these family visits we were asked the question, “Why do you feel you need to go off overseas when there is so much need in our own country?”
With so much of God’s work to be done everywhere this was a fair question, and one which had a fairly simple answer – we felt called to China to serve God, and our circumstances allowed us to do so.
The fact that over the course of the next eight years we missed out on many family occasions such as births, birthday celebrations, and Christmases together (along with times of family ill health, miscarriages etc), this was a small price to pay for being obedient to the call.
Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
“Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Matthew 8:22-23
Once again from my Bible notes:
It is possible that this disciple was not asking permission to go to his father’s funeral, but rather to put off following Jesus until his elderly father died.
Whatever his reason he did not want to commit himself to Jesus just yet. Jesus, however, would not accept his excuse.
Jesus was always direct with those who wanted to follow him. He made sure they counted the cost and set aside any conditions they might have for following him.
As God’s Son, Jesus did not hesitate to demand complete loyalty. Even family loyalty was not to take priority over the demands of obedience.
His direct challenge forces us to ask ourselves about our own priorities in following him.
The decision to follow Jesus should not be put off, even though other loyalties compete for our attention.
Nothing should be placed above a total commitment to living for him.
Following Jesus is not always easy or comfortable. Often it means great cost and sacrifice, with no earthly rewards or security.
You may find that following Christ costs you popularity, friendships, leisure time, or treasured habits.
But while the cost of following Christ is high, the value of being Christ’s disciple is even higher.
Discipleship is an investment that lasts for eternity and yields incredible rewards.
I have certainly lost many relationships with family, friends and acquaintances as a direct result of my beliefs.
Sadly a lot of this is most likely also due to a loss of much credibility related to my battles with mental illness.
Do I say it was a matter of unfortunate timing that my acceptance of Christ and my commitment to follow Him came when I was battling my mental demons?
No.
For surely that is when Christ meets us (or we meet Him) - when we are at the lowest point in our lives.
My autobiography Rotor in the Green chronicles the first 46 years of my life; a life enriched by the pursuit of professional flying, yet balanced with a battle with depression and a deteriorating private life.
In the closing paragraphs of that book I posed the question, “Would I swap it all for a loving, fulfilling marriage and a good relationship with my children?” The answer of course is “Yes”. But what person wouldn’t do things differently if they had their life to live over again?
Back then, when my life was falling apart around me, I would have given anything to change my circumstances and set everything right.
But now, having had time to reflect on the past 15 years, and experiencing Christ working in my life personally, and that that of Suzanne and myself as a couple, I have to ask myself the new question:
“Which of the following – (1) coming to Christ, (2) meeting Suzanne, (3) bringing people to Christ in China, and of course (4) having Deborah in our lives, would I trade to take away any part of the pain, suffering and fallout from that previous time.
The answer is, “None of the above”.
For it is only through that same pain and suffering that we can experience Christ working within us, to transform us into the person He wants us to be.
Each of us has been given gifts and talents by God, and when we use those for His glory it brings great satisfaction and joy – both to God and to us.
I am not a gifted public speaker, whereas Suzanne is comfortable with this.
But I do believe that God has given me the skills to communicate better through my writings than I can verbally; the 5,000 visits and 17,000 page-views of this Wings As Eagles website since establishing it three years ago, and both my autobiography and its sequel which bring glory and honour to Him, are testimony to this.
The point is that if we want to fully embrace and enjoy all the good, positive things in our life, we have to accept all the pain we have experienced, and inflicted on others, along the way.
I wrote the following titled Who Am I? some time back:
When I was a child I was the product of a seemingly loveless marriage, and as a result I was raised in an environment where little love was offered or shown.
I learned from that, and never failed to tell my children (and more importantly show them) how much I loved them as they were growing up.
When I was a teenager I never went to Church, but felt I lived a good, Christian life by trying to be honest, caring, compassionate and sharing to all, regardless of colour, race or creed.
It wasn’t until my mid-forties that I learned that while these are admirable qualities in a person, the only way to true salvation and eternal life is through our Lord Jesus Christ.
As a husband I suffered a failed marriage, and have as a result been included in the pile of statistics reflecting the general breakdown of our society.
I took a good, hard look at myself to see what went wrong.
I learned that you must love yourself before you can love anyone else, and that if the opposite of love is hate, then the next worse thing to hate in a marriage is indifference.
In the future, I know there will still be many sufferings, challenges, and setbacks.
But I have learned from the trials and tribulations of my past that my God was with me through them all, and I take comfort from the fact that He will always be with me, guiding me gently through the good times and the bad in the years ahead.
So who am I?
I have always thought that I was a pretty decent person, but my life experiences have shown that sometimes the worst comes out in me.
It is only through my faith, and learning from my failures, that I know not only who I am, but more importantly who I still strive to be.
A better person for it all.
Ultimately what matters most is not what others say about your life after you are gone, but what God says.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…
Colossians 3:17
Ray Dousset
Wings As Eagles
Posted24May11
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