Your Christ Life Now

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38

Has Joel Osteen has missed the mark?  You can decide for yourself.  Here are some quotes from his highly successful book, ‘Your Best Life Now.’

“Someday, I’ll earn more money, and I won’t have to worry about how to pay the bills.”

“God wants to increase you financially…”  

“Even if you come from an extremely successful family, God still wants you to go further.”

“Get rid of that small-minded thinking and start thinking as God thinks. Think big. Think increase. Think abundance. Think more than enough.”

“Many people settle for too little . . . ‘I’ve gone as far in my career as I can go. I’ve hit the peak. I’ll never make any more money than I’m making right now.’ “

Anyone familiar with the teachings of Jesus Christ perceives immediately that these (teachings) are not biblically sound. An abundant life in Christ has never been about personal gain, but remembering  that  prosperity of any kind is from Him and for Him. It’s not about getting more before you die, but giving more so others might live — to His glory!

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? Luke 9:23-25

I once heard a story about a man who, while hiking in the wilderness had become caught in a blizzard. He walked for hours in the blinding snow and was soaked through, frost-bitten, and exhausted. The compulsion to collapse in the snow and sleep unto death was overwhelming and so to his knees he fell.

In a second’s time, he tipped forward from his knees to his elbows, hoping to go fetal, but instead he felt a mass beneath the snow. He had literally stumbled upon another person; a person who he would discover was unconscious, but alive.

He lifted the man across his shoulders and began walking. In less than an hours time he came upon a cabin. This home was occupied, there was a fire burning, and both men were saved.

In this account, a proper definition of an abundant life in Christ emerges.  This man, the very picture of an empty vessel, was restored after he had given up his personal quest and made himself available to a greater purpose, the saving of another man’s life.  The story’s only omission — who got the accolades as they warmed themselves before the fire?

Blessed For a Reason

Isn’t the Lord saying to us, “Look! There are bodies all around. I’ve given you the means to pick one (or more) up and begin walking.”

The choice has always been ours. In our salvation we can hoard our blessings or even curl up and wait to die if we want, but there is a wiser option: living abundantly in gratitude, love, and obedient service in the precious name of the One who redeemed us.

Take a Test:

1. Silently consider your testimony.
2. Are the God-parts recent or ancient history?
3. Overall, who is the benefactor of the God-parts?
4. Is there consistency in your walk of faith?
5. Do you hoard?
6. Is your testimony in need of an update?

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