Listen: Chris Witts presents Morning Devotions.
By Chris WittsWednesday 5 Jan 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsDevotionsReading Time: 3 minutes
In Part 1, I started talking about boxes and stuff. It reminded me because it might have been Jerry Seinfeld’s episode when he was talking about boxes.
Seinfeld said, “To me, if life boils down to one significant thing, it’s movement…Have you seen any boxes? The only problem is, once you find the perfect box—he’s talking about a casket—you’re in it.” A rather funny way of explaining life with boxes.
I also said about Jesus telling the story in Luke 12, with the man who had a great crop and he wanted to knock down the barn and build a bigger one so he could gather all his stuff. God showed up and said, You’re a fool because tonight you’re going to die and all that stuff in your barns, who gets it?
And Jesus said, That’s what happens when you fill your barn with self, and not with God. Jesus said, Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot. We have this mistaken idea that if you own a lot then you’ll be happier. Happier than those people who don’t have as much as you.
But the evidence doesn’t support that. Jesus says in Luke 12:22-24 (The Message): “Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.”
Are you really living?
What does it mean to really live? Is it to amass riches and fame and fortune? Rick Warren has done a brilliant job in explaining these issues in his book The Purpose Driven Life and says:
You will live life at one of three basic levels:
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- Survival. The first level, the lowest level is the survival level. Many people live in the survival mode. They get by in life. They’re not really living, they’re just existing. They put in their time, punch the time clock and live for the weekends. They never really have any major goals or major drive in life.
- Success. Most people are in the second level, a little higher level called the success level. Focus is on paying off the mortgage or establishing a comfortable lifestyle. Yet this level does not satisfy.
- Significance. Significance is when you know why you’re here on earth. You have a purpose for your life. You know that your life matters. You know that there is meaning behind what’s going on in your life. People who enjoy significance know what on earth they’re here for!
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Richard Evans says: “The tragedy of life is not that it ends too soon, but that we wait too long to begin it.” We are so caught up with our culture that we are blind to the way that culture entices us and seduces us away from God.
“The tragedy of life is not that it ends too soon, but that we wait too long to begin it.” Richard Evans
We measure our lives by achievements, by jobs, by families, by possession, by political affiliations almost without a thought. We forget that ultimately all things are in God’s hands and our lives are hidden with Christ in God. Sometimes we don’t realise straightaway; it might take years or a special event to wake us up.
The Christian faith is worth considering if you’re sitting on the fence. Surround yourself with boxes if you like, but nothing lasts forever, except a relationship with Jesus Christ. That goes on forever into eternity.