Francis encourages us in chapter two to give some serious thought to how we approach each day of our lives, and our lives as a whole. Quoting him from page 39: "it's easy to think about today as just another day." ... "On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. On the average day, we don't consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor. But there is nothing normal about today."
Francis goes on to give us an example of uncontrolled, 'justified' stress in his own life, and the alleviation of that stress when he surrendered all his worries and stress to God. We seem to tell ourselves that our 'burdens' are just a little too unimportant to bother God with; at the same time, they are so important that they command too much of our focus and often bring us to a state of ill health; and we allow them to steal our joy. Francis relates worry to lack of trust and stress to lack of balance. "Both," he says, "worry and stress reek of arrogance." Worry and stress are also symptoms of misdirected focus: Life IS all about God and not about me at all. Francis suggests that we get over ourselves and focus on giving glory to God. "The point of your life is to point to Him." I really like that statement. I think it's time we get the point.
Discussion Questions:
- How can you refocus your life in a way that will help you remember "the point of your life is to point to Him"?
- Think about people in your life who have died abruptly. Think about their achievements; and about their regrets. Perhaps you were in a relationship with them in which they shared this information; perhaps you have to imagine what the answers might be based on what you knew about them.
- Frederick Buechner: "Intellectually we all know that we will die, but we do not really know it in the sense that the knowledge becomes a part of us. We do not really know it in the sense of living as though it were true. On the contrary, we tend to live as though our lives would go on forever." What's your response to this quote?
- Read Philippians 4:4. Are you obeying that command? What steps will you take to ensure that you do? Philippians 4:5-9 offer us help.
- What if today was the day you came before God? What regrets might you have? Think about things you can change to day to avoid those regrets.
- What was your response to the quote from A. W. Tozer? "A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. This is man's greatest tragedy and God's heaviest grief."
I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Anita
During the last few days, I was thinking about the movie analogy Francis Chan uses. I realized this week: How often do you see the "star" of a movie desire to have a personal relationship with each of the "extras"? Our God is awesome!
ReplyDelete1. "The point of my life is to point to Him." Sometimes it's easy to forget it's not about me. God is so faithful to me and my life is blessed - maybe not always as I would have chosen - but God's plan is so much better than anything I can imagine. So how can I focus on the One who blesses instead of on the blessings? With minute-by-minute intentional determination; a continual refocusing onto Him. Like thinking about Who God is; and who He says I am.
2. Aren't the regrets mostly relational? The death that I have had the most difficult time with was a dad from my son's baseball team. At his funeral, I listened carefully, hoping someone would talk about a salvation experience from some point in his life; but those words never came. This was a man who had a great personality, was very caring, and was well-liked. My concern is that he may be the nicest man in Hell. Though I had attempted to be a Christian witness to him with my life, I had never taken the risk (the opportunity) to share the Gospel message with him. This is my great regret regarding death - and a situation I don't want to repeat.
3. I am trying to refocus my days to think from this perspective. If this were my last day on earth, I would like to take every opportunity to share the most important piece of knowledge I possess - the salvation message of Jesus. I have thought for many years that I would live to be 100. If I begin to live today like this is my last day on earth, and I live to be 100, look how many more people I can impact with the truth of the Gospel in the present and coming years.
4. Rejoice! This command doesn't say I will always rejoice in my circumstances; it says I am to rejoice in the Lord always (regardless of my circumstances, both in them and in spite of them). Sometimes rejoicing in the Lord requires me to look beyond my circumstances. I think God wants me to always look beyond my circumstances; to look to Him always; and to rejoice in Him. He is a
Sovereign God; we can trust in Him; and we can rejoice in Him always.
5. I regret not sharing Jesus verbally with my friend as mentioned above. I regret allowing my fears to interfere with living life to the fullest. I regret times that I have been more concerned about what others think of me than what God thinks of me. And I am thankful that God empowers me to put those things behind me and to choose differently now and in the future.
6. Father forgive me for the times of wasting my life. You are not only the "star" of this "movie"; you are the "producer" and "director" as well. Help me to bring glory and honor to you with my thoughts, my words, and my actions.