"So go for it," The Teacher declares, "knock yourself out! But understand you're fooling yourself if you think any of it amounts to anything in the random, self-serving world we create for ourselves when God is not the central value in the equation."
Life from day to day offers an ongoing opportunity to engage what is meaningful and to put everything else in its proper place.
There is no amount of money, no luxury, no accolade, no acquisition of power or privilege that could come close to the beauty and the satisfaction of an encouraging and affirming relationship rooted in God's kind of love.
Regardless, my advice is to get into the word, saturate yourself with scripture, allow the wisdom and the love and the story to wash over you. All the while seeking to follow Jesus with grace and joy.
It's a tree falling in the forest thing - a message is not actually communicated until someone has received it.
There are two particular examples of insight I'd like to share. Both so disarmingly simple you may not realize how beautifully present God was in those moments.
We get sucked in. We put ourselves at debt and at risk and under pressure for trinkets that mean nothing.
"Jesus is a little more inclusive than some of his followers tend to be." Jesus is God's invitation; Jesus is the gate itself, not a "Check your ID at the door" gatekeeper.
Faith is a combination of believing and then choosing to reinforce what we believe via intentional spiritual disciplines
God creates, God purposes, God choses, God gifts, God loves.
