Life is so confusing sometimes. What am I here for, what am I made to do, how am I supposed to spend my time, etc. etc. Being a born-again Christian, many of life's questions are answered-- I was made by God for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11). The Bible tells me how I am to please God-- by faith (for without faith it is impossible to please God). I know that I am to go into all the world and make disciples, and that I have a unique place in the body of Christ that no one else can fill.But some questions remain-- I am part of the body, but what part am I? Am I a foot? A hand? An intestine? How am I practically to go into all the world and make disciples-- by street evangelism? Music? Teaching? Become a missionary? I know what talents I have been so graciously given, and some of the spiritual gifts I have-- but I fear I have yet to find my purpose, my place in life.
And then there's the world. Having never been outside of the U.S. and its culture, and rarely ever even outside of the southern California culture, I have a very limited understanding of how "normal" life is. I have heard we are some of the richest people on earth when you compare the U.S. to other nations, and that the culture I live in and am accustomed to is a very materialistic, self-obsessed culture.
Doing foreign currency exchange for a living though, I see hundreds of people richer than me from all over the world! I tend to think that this majority population of poor people are the oppressed and neglected people of densely populated places like India (i.e. the Dalits), China, and various African nations-- Places where there are large concentrations of people living in substandard living conditions.
And surely people living in such horrible conditions are focused primarily on their survival-- having enough food, or finding shelter and clothing or getting medical attention-- rather than getting nicer looking towels for their kitchen, or a rug that matches their couch. They are not focused on getting the latest cell phone technology or the best and fastest computer. They would be content to have any rug for their dirt floor, or any towel-- or even clean water to wash with.
Now, the question. Surely these people are living in wretched conditions. Surely these are not optimal conditions to live under-- so we aren't to adopt such conditions ourselves. But just how much material comfort and convenience is acceptable and necessary to obtain before it is considered selfish and wasteful? This is, in my opinion, a very hard question to answer! Surrounded by materialism and self-adoring people, it is hard to keep a clear view. I struggle between being legalistically focused on not over-indulging and getting caught up in the "everyone's doing it" mentality and getting distracted by building my earthly kingdom.
The question of how to spend my time is a sea-saw of the same sort. Do I make every attempt to abstain from worldly pleasures of television-watching, movie-going, and other leisure activities-- in favor of devoting every waking moment to spiritual development and the furtherance of the gospel? Oh that TV and movies existed in Bible days-- then surely Paul would have written on it! But the Bible makes little-to-no mention of leisure activity. Does this mean that entertaining ourselves is an unspiritual, bankrupt activity that will burn as wood, hay, and stubble? Or is it just that its focus is on the spiritual, and so it ends up being silent on the ordinary and mundane tasks of life?
All you see the disciples doing is eating, breathing, and sleeping the gospel. It's all Jesus, the gospel, God, scripture, prayer, fellowship, church life. There is eating. Eating is good. But just as you see many, many miracles in Acts, and you can get the idea that the Christian life should be chalked full of miracles (when in reality, the book of Acts spans many years and miracles are actually quite uncommon when you spread it out over the time-line), perhaps the abundance of spiritually-focused activities in the New Testament are a condensed version of life with a particular focus.
If you were to read an instruction manual for a toaster oven, and the full-sized oven is not mentioned, you would not come to the conclusion that you should no longer use the full-sized oven. No, rather, the focus of the toaster oven manual is to teach you how to use the toaster oven. So too, the focus of the Bible is God and our relationship with Him, which is spiritual (we worship Him in spirit and in truth). The message of the few passages that mention our physical life is that we aren't to focus on it-- not that it's bad, but it's not to be our life's objective (i.e., women aren't to focus on the outer appearance, but the inner beauty of an incorruptible spirit, etc.).
The end of the matter? God has a plan, and though we may not know what it is, He will accomplish it. He has prepared good works beforehand that we should walk in them. It doesn't say that we have to know what the good work is before we walk into it-- just that He's prepared it and that we'll walk into it. We don't have to try and strive. We don't have to know. We walk by faith and not by sight.
But how will I know if I've accomplished His purpose? That's part of faith, I suppose. Though I really wish I could know I am fulfilling the purpose for which He's created me! Lord, give me faith...! Amen!
