Life is not a battle.

I am not in the middle of a battle.

That felt good to write, to say out loud as I wrote it.

For years I have been told that life is a battle, especially in the contexts of spirituality.  “Everyday is a battle.  Are going to fight for God or for the devil?”  Statements like that (Which I just made up for the sake of my argument) have made challenging times seem more challenging.  When life gets tough I typically think to myself, “well, you’re losing this one” and I immediately feel worse. 

What if life wasn’t a battle to be won or lost?  What if life was just life, a series of days and times and events and laughs and tears and love and hate and life?  As Christians, we know that death is not the end.  We subscribe to the belief that there is an after-life and we will either spend eternity in heaven or hell.  So, if death is not the end, if death is not considered a loss, why do we think our lives have to be such a struggle to win?  This is not something about prosperity; I’m not talking about that.  Maybe this is more for emotional things, like depression or loneliness or something.

You wake up and are immediately immersed in a fight, a fight for the day, a fight for your life.  Every decision you make, every thought you have, every word that comes out of your mouth is another chance to win or lose.  It's stressful, you have to constantly be ready to defend your position, to fight for your victory everyday of your life, there is never a moment of rest or peace.  That doesn't sound like a life I want to live.

Donald Miller wrote in a book about a lecture he went to.  The man speaking said that more people are dying from non-terminal cancer's each year in the United States than need to be.  The reason? Their mentality towards their illness.  The popular belief is that when the “C” word is given as diagnosis that you are automatically thrown into the midst of an epic battle between yourself and cancer.  The patient believes they have to fight to survive and because of this perceived mentality of a battle that needs to be won or lost, there are people who give up because they don’t think they can win the battle, they don’t think they have the strength to fight.  In most of these cases, the cancer was not terminal, the patient had very little to zero risk of dying but their emotional state propelled their bodies into a place of immediately raising the white flag in defeat and so they succumbed to the perception of their current state.

I just wonder if the same is true in life.  Am I succumbing to the perception I have?  Sometimes I wake up and I can’t wait to take on the day; I have my to-do lists made, I have my schedule set, I have the coffee maker ready to go, I am going to dominate life on that day.  Then there are days I don’t want to get out of bed till Noon and I beat myself up because of it, I immediately check out and say “You lost today, buddy.”  From my perception of life being a series of battles to win or lose, I am taking on negative perceptions to life and I can be sure to lose whatever perceived battle I think I am in.

I say, get the entire mentality of life being a battle out of your head.  Life is life and there are good days and there are bad days but life is not a battle and you don’t have to fight.  All you have to do is live.  Here’s hoping you live a life of joy and happiness.

- Cheers.

Happiness and hope

Proverbs 11:23 says "The godly can look forward to happiness..."

We can look forward to happiness.  I like that.  And yes, I did assume myself to be the "godly".  I know it might seem simple or freshmen to be pointing out this verse and writing about it, but the point of this blog is to share my thoughts and this morning brings this thought.

Who is considered the "godly"?  Well, a quick Google search on "who are the godly?" Brings up a study on godly living.  As true as it is that we should live our lives in a certain way to show that we are children of God, I don't believe we can expect too much of what we do in our lives to make us that much more worthy to receive a specific title from heaven.

The book of Ephesians says we are children of God.  It says if we are in Christ, if we believe in Him, we are seated in heavenly places.  If I can believe I am seated in heavenly places, it would also be safe to assume I can have the benefits of those heavenly places, right?  I mean, if I am seated court side with Jack Nicholson at the Lakers game then I would assume those benefits would be mine as well.  I would expect to see Kanye and Kim or high-five Kobe or get my picture in some national publication sitting next to Jack or any of the other benefits that come with sitting next to Jack Nicholson court side.  

The same should be true when we consider our lives as believers and followers of Jesus.  We are seated in heavenly places.  Those benefits of heaven are mine and they are available to me right now.  I'm not going to be seated in heavenly places, I wasn't seated in heavenly places in a time before right now, I AM seated in heavenly places.  Right now, right here, I am seated.  Those benefits are mine NOW!  Not later, not sometime in the future, right now.

How can I be sick, poor, broken, hurt, jealous, troubled, depressed, lonely, or anything else expect good if I am seated in heavenly places?

It's true, I can look forward to happiness according to proverbs 11.  I can look forward to happiness right now and for the rest of my life.  Why?  Because I am seated in heavenly places.

Ephesians also says that God ordered that all things would fall under the authority of Christ.  What things? ALL THINGS.  That includes my happiness.  My happiness falls under the authority of Jesus!

So here's the deal.  Say it to yourself.  Say, "Self, You are seated in heavenly places.  You are happy because you are under the authority of Jesus."

A solider who falls under the authority of a General will experience the benefits of that general.  When war breaks out, if that General is the smartest and most experienced in combat and war, that soldier will experience those benefits.  We experience the benefits of Heaven for two reasons.  First, we are submitted to Jesus and His authority.  Second, because we are under His authority we are seated in Heavenly places and experience the benefits of Sonship, of being royalty, and of the palace of Heaven.

- cheers.

A happy group of people

A friend of mine once said "If you have compassion for man kind...you default out of your own stuff.". In other words, if you care more for the well being of others than you do yourself, you won't be worried about your own troubles.  I never noticed that to be true until I heard it, but it made complete sense to me.  Looking back on all the times I have done "good things" I can see how I felt in the moment. It makes you feel lighter, like everything is falling in place at that moment.  Your issues with fear, guilt, shame, loneliness, self-destruction, everything disappears in those moments.  
I have always loved to create random acts of kindness in life.  For the most part, I usually create them for strangers, but I also enjoy creating them for people I know.  Little things like going to a drive thru for coffee and paying for the person in the car behind you.  It makes me so happy to see them in my mirror, usually shock hits them first and then a big smile follows.  I was recently on the opposite end of a random act of kindness.  An old friend of mine recently got back home from spending some time in Korea where he was stationed with the Army.  I got a chance to hang out with his family on Friday night for dinner, we had a great time sharing laughs.  On Sunday I got a text from him asking me to swing by his parents house when I was done at work, he had a little gift for me.  When I got there he handed me a guitar and asked me what I thought about it.  I told him it was really nice.  "it's yours" he said. I stood there for what seemed five minutes motionless. I was blown away, amazed, shocked, surprised.  I couldn't stop smiling.  It was fantastic.  As happy as this gift made me feel in that moment, I'm sure it made him feel equally as good.   Now imagine a culture where everyone created small or large acts of kindness...imagine the simple things like not cutting people off in traffic, buying the coffee for the person behind you at Starbucks, calling someone you know and taking them to lunch with no motive other than listening to them and helping them walk through life, imagine telling those close to you that you love them. Could you imagine a people that cared for others more than they cared for themselves?