Two types of people
Jul 25th, 2009 by ljkim
There are two types of people who believe in God and want to learn about Him. There are the people who believe things about God and therefore want to please Him because they want good things in their lives (Group A). Then there are the people who believe things about God and love Him and want to get on board with what He’s doing (Group B). Most of the people in churches are probably in group A. After all, who doesn’t want good things? Group B people want good things too. The difference is that Group B people expect to see cool things while serving God in ways that have nothing to do with them (no direct personal gain), while Group A people are ultimately serving themselves and trying to get God to serve them too.
The irony is that Group B people will actually GET more than Group A people, because they’ll wind up benefiting from stuff that looks (from our human perspective) like selfless acts of service. Whereas Group A people will only stick to the things that are “practical” (to their needs). In fact the disparity between the experiences of these two groups will eventually become so great that one will seem to get EVERYTHING and the other lose everything they hoped to save.
Jesus said it right from the start: those who try to save their lives will lose it. But those who lose their lives for Him, and for His Gospel will save it. What a paradox! This means that the people who’s core focus is meeting their own needs will ultimately not get their needs met – whereas the people who’s core focus is doing what God wants (regardless of their needs), will get more than they ever hoped for!
But how can this be? An old mentor of mine explained it this way: when you only do what you want, your life is limited to your own imagination… Now imagine living the “best” life as imagined by a 3 year old, then a 10 year old… You’d be stuck, and it’s no different now. But people who “sacrificially” follow what God wants wind up reaping benefits they never dreamed of! But there’s no way to trick the system. The only way is to renounce selfish dreams and join His cause. To follow Jesus in loving neighbors, even enemies, in healing the sick, strengthening the weak, befriending the poor, welcoming the outcasts, and whatever else Jesus sends your way. Do this and you wind up with more friends, more fun, more peace, and more meaning than you could have ever engineered for yourself.
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