What Does Jesus Want?

We live in confusing times with world events and technology racing. We are overloaded frequently with options and information and pressures. Often the choices and advice on what we "should do" overwhelms us. If we don't find a core within us on which to build upon, we can succomb to the forces that seek to manipulate us into doing what "someone else" wants us to do and miss building our own life.

But at the same time, more is going on than survival of the fittest. More is going on than "king of the mountain." More is going on than competition as to who is better than whom. There must be a life found deep on the inside of us.

Opinions run rampant, including our own. Our own advice is not always the best and our own ideas can even be wrong. Along with knowledge and reasoning, we carry intuition but we still cannot define our own "truth."

Today's society presents "situation ethics" as a science. It is a rationale of exalting what is right for the moment. Granted, some things are right for the time, but there has to be more to life than living for the moment.

All these ideas are consistently being given forth for life, along with the one that the ends justify the means. But what is life in Christ? It is the knowing of a Person, but even then, we must be wary that someone's experiential knowledge does not supercede what is to be the truth for us.

What works? I think in just asking the question, we are on to a good start. Believing in God means that you go beyond just believing in your self and even beyond believing in the others around you. There is a system going on, a system of life and there are counter forces to that.

Because some have been rebuked by these counterforces in such a forceful way, they can lose heart in life and seek to align with what seems to be the "winning power" and miss it, because death and destruction will never build life nor offer protection.

Just because someone hit you to maintain their order does not mean that hitting and hurting is the positive and redemptive way to maintain order. How healthy can it be when everyone is walking around with bruises and broken limbs in the name of maintaining order? Something is wrong with that picture! It doesn't have to be that way!

There are extreme measures for extreme times but are we truly looking to live in the extremes day in and day out? There are some who are called to professions and who enjoy sports because that is an area of the extreme where they can survive and maintain an certain manner of life. We think of the extreme with fire-fighters and policemen who battle the edge to maintain healthy order. Most sports heros are there because they love the sport. The money, while nice, is a symbol of their success, not just the goal.

There are things that mark us for who we are. They are expressions of our life. If we cannot express who we are, we feel frustrated. If we don't know who we are, we feel even more frustrated. But there is something good in feeling that there must be more because it is a sign of life. It is a sign that not everything within has been explored and realized. But at the same time, we must have healthy boundaries.

When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, it was a great deliverance for a people who had become greatly oppressed. The way of life had degenerated to such a degree that the quality of life was no longer there. Individualism had no value and was constantly at the brutal mercy of the will of another taskmaster who had no regard for fellow human life but saw it as a servant to their means of pleasure. It was in this setting God stepped in to show Himself supernatural on their behalf.

There can be a time in life when you have become so devalued that you not only need a Saviour, but a supernatural Deliverer. Often we will try to take matters into our own hands but if we don't have wisdom, we can make many mistakes.

I was at a Christian ladies conference this weekend and heard many stories about hard experiences. They were all testimonies of how God overcame the circumstances of very difficult times. Sometimes I marveled at the depth of the battles, and was even more touched by the determinations to see a healthy life prevail in spite of the obstacles.

I had gone through my own personal battle, too, that weekend, of hearing some stinging words by someone I care about (those you care about are the ones who can hurt you, you know?) and as I listened to one woman's incredible testimony of surviving trouble in ministry, I lamented to one of my friends there, "Is it worth it? Is it worth it to keep fighting and fighting only to get knocked down again?" But inside I already knew the answer. The speaker was a testimony to having survived. Somehow God saw her through something extremely devastating and she was able to share about it with others. That took strength.

If the counter forces can't hit you head on, they will try to come around the sides to ambush you. If your core and center of life is not firmly established, you can become crippled from the attacks. Inside of us there is something that cries.

When a baby is born, it cries. It just went through something incredibly hard and major changes have occurred. However, we rejoice because we have great hopes for that baby's opportunities. To us, that cry is the sound of life.

The pressures are on in life. If we do not have guidelines that help us and preserve us, our lives can get crushed. If we do not have faith for a supernatural deliverer, we can lose all hope. If we do not believe there is a quality of life, we can become so despondent that we quit trying.

We can't take the burdens of all the rest of the world onto ourselves. We need to define our own battles. Spiritual and physical awakening comes in stages. We aren't instant wonders in a day. Every baby began as two cells! What a wonder that is! How can any man or woman claim to have a handle on the creation of God?

But it's faith in God that gets us beyond where we are today. Life is a constant battle. We must put a value on that relationship with God or we will succomb to the attacks of the enemy.

There are guidelines to life. People can come up with many agendas and ideas but it's God's Word that has the keys to the open doors. If you want success, you must find His Ways. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is not a masuline/feminine war. He is the Creator of both and loves both dearly and equally.

If you truly want life, seek hard to live by the Ten Commandments. Have you failed? There is hope and forgiveness in Jesus. He went to the Cross to die for your sins. You needed a way, He made a way. He is the Way!

And you need to know what a quality life is and that is one that bears fruit. It doesn't just have some fruit, it bears fruit. That fruit-bearing life is found through the Holy Spirit, but you can't accomplish and maintain and continually bear fruit without the foundation of Life in God.

You have heard the expression, "Keep it simple"? That is good advice in God. You can specialize and be blessed but if you have an honest and sincere heart and if you want to help others, keep the basics. They work every time.

A supernatural Deliverer will come, not just for a group, but for every individual who calls out to Him in sincerety and truth.