A Better Way to Live in 2014
I’ve been thinking about what would be the best thing I could share with you today as we look forward to entering a New Year. So, have you been wondering if the New Year will be any different from the previous ones? Will you just struggle with some of the same old problems and add a few new ones? Do you ever wonder what life is all about anyway? We know that life holds no guarantees; there will always be problems, grief and losses. Is there anything that gives life some sense of meaning? For many people, life makes no sense; there is no hope. Billy Graham wrote something like this in one of his books: “Men are born on a quest trying to fill the emptiness in their heart.” Many go to their graves never having found that one thing that gives life purpose.
The Lord in heaven knows I’ve had my fill of loosing and share of sorrow. I’ve outlived most of my nuclear family, my grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts and cousins. I’ve lost a brother and then my wife — my best friend.
I’ve been thinking a lot about her lately. In the spring when I return to Tennessee from Florida, one of the first things I’ll do is visit the quaint little cemetery in the middle of a small suburb of Nashville where I live. I’ll drive down the tree lined lane that goes through the graveyard, park my jeep beneath a tree and walk about a hundred yards through rows of grave markers to a particular grave. I’ll take the dozen red roses I’ve brought with me and place them in the vase in the center of the bronze and granite grave marker. Then I’ll go down on my knees and thank God for the lovely woman whose remains are buried there. I’ll stand then and gaze at the name inscribed in bronze to the right of the red roses. Just knowing she loved me was one of life’s greatest gifts. Above her name is the date of her birth then a dash followed by the date of her death, June 15, 2005. Now all that remains is the memory of the years we spent together. Her entire life, including our 44 together, is represented only by that little dash. I’ve tried to think of what best describes her short life on earth. A song recorded by Sheri Easter comes to mind, entitled “She Loved.” I think anyone who knew and loved Sharron would agree that that best describes her life – she loved!
On the left engraved in that bronze marker is my name with the date of birth above it and an ominous blank following the dash. I wonder how I’ll be remembered. I hope some, at least, will think the way about me as I do my wife, but it doesn’t actually matter. What does matter is that God knows, and I know in my own heart that I loved.
God’s love is that one thing that gives life its meaning; it is the only thing that will fill the longing in our heart. Without it, nothing else matters. Someone once asked a prominent philosopher what was the greatest thing, expecting some profound answer. The Philosopher said “Jesus love me this I know for the Bible tells me so…” To me, just knowing Jesus loves me is the greatest gift of all.
A person may be nothing special, live a ordinary life, have no monuments built to their memory, and their name may be soon forgotten, but if they have loved, they are special in the eyes of God, and that is all that really counts when everything is said and done, and that is all they leave behind of real value and all they take with them. God’s love is the one and only thing that makes sense of life and He wants freely to give it to you. He wants to live in your heart and comfort you through all the ups and downs of life. He wants His love to flow through you and out to others.
You don’t have to carry last year’s baggage with you into 2014. We might mistakenly think that is the purpose of New Year’s resolutions – to try to make a better life in the New Year by leaving old baggage behind. Nevertheless, it often results as when the airline loses your baggage, and it seems for a while that it’s gone, when at last the airline calls to inform you that your baggage has arrived; so is it often with resolutions. It seems for a while that the baggage is gone until gradually it begins to arrive, and we are right back where we started. The New Year can only truly be a fresh beginning when God’s love is present in your heart. It’s not something you do. It’s something you become. Christianity is not a “to do list” of rules and regulations and doing things. It is a “to be list” of things God wants you to become. But the only way we ever become what God intends is when we first experience God’s love in our life or when we allow God’s love to do its work in our life. And that is the only way we can enjoy a better way of living in the New Year. Everything else will ultimately fail.
What is Love and how does it act
In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul promised the church at Corinth that he would show them a better way to live. Directly in chapter 13 he begins to describes love. The reason Paul wrote them about love is that the church at Corinth was divided. There was envy and sin in the church. They didn’t love each other. Paul gave them this description of love and how it acts so they could shine it in their heart to see if they were indeed a Christian and if so how God’s love should manifest itself in their lives. And by allowing God’s love they could experience a better way of living. It’s not hard to understand that precept; what good is life without love?
1 Corinthians 13
‘Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not LOVE, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not LOVE, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not LOVE, it profiteth me nothing. LOVE suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. LOVE never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, LOVE, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.”
Things love is:
Love is kind
Love is generous
Love is humble
Love is polite
Love is unselfish
Love is even tempered
Love is pure
Love is true & loves truth
Love never fails, never gives up but always endures
Love never loses faith.
Love is always hopeful.
Things love isn’t:
Love isn’t jealous, envious, or covetous.
Love isn’t boastful.
Love isn’t proud.
Love doesn’t demand its own way.
Love isn’t rude.
Love isn’t irritable.
Love holds no grudges.
Love doesn’t rejoice about injustice.
How do we show our love of God?
Jesus was speaking to His disciples and a multitude when he said:
“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25: 36-40)
That is quite a sobering thought. The way we treat others is exactly how we are treating King Jesus. When we speak unkindly to someone or about someone, steal from them, lie to them, harm them in any way . . . we are doing the same to our Lord. The effective love of God in our heart causes us to do differently. We have no desire to harm others, but instead we want to help them. In fact, according to the Apostle John, if we fail to love our brother, (Others) it is evidence that we have not the love of God in our hearts and are not His.
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20)
The test on whether we have passed from death unto life is do we love. It is also the test as to how well we live in the coming New Year, 2014.
About the author: Jimmie Burroughs is a motivational speaker and author who has been involved in teaching Christian Personal Development for more than 30 years. There are hundreds of articles to help you on this website (Website Contents ) in your personal growth. If I can help you personally, please send your concerns via Contact me.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To subscribe to blog simply click on the RSS button on the left, and copy and paste the URL of our RSS feed into your RSS reader. ARTICLE INDEX _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ © 2011 Jimmie Burroughs. All rights reserved