What if life is all about dying?

What if our life is all about dying?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rztYMMhMT2Y

Before we go any further...I want you all to watch this video. If you can't, that's fine. But it's honestly only 6 and half minutes and it's worth your time. If you're gonna read this blog...just watch the video too.

What if our life is all about dying?

What if this life is not about what you can get?

What if this life is not about you at all?

Now, I'm not saying that our life is about dying in the sense that we should all want to die or be suicidal. Far from it. What I mean by dying here is a dying to self.

What if we weren't meant to live this life always striving after the next new thing that can bring us satisfaction?

What if *gasp* it was not about making a ton of money, keeping yourself and your family safe, and being able to always provide for yourself and have a cushy retirement?

What if?

What if this life was about dying to yourself and living for Christ?

I have lived the sort of life that I've described above for as long as I can remember.
I've been excited to:

Get a good education,
Make a decent amount of money,
Provide for my family one day so that they could have everything they ever needed,
Raise good kids who love God and His people,
Have a Godly marriage that teaches my spouse and I about Christ's unconditional love and that people admire,
Save up a retirement fund so that one day I can lock myself away on a private island with my husband and never have to be around people again.

Now, none of these things are inherently wrong. I'm not desiring an exorbitant amount of money...so I don't look greedy. I'm not planning on giving my family all of their wants...I just want to cover their needs. I do want to raise Godly children. I do want to have a Godly marriage that can be an example and an encouragement to others. That last one is a little selfish...but just a little bit ;)

But.

But what if this life isn't about me.
What if it isn't even about my family?

*Gulp*
What if God is not calling me to live a cushy, easy life where I can just shoot the breeze as my perfect family loves God and each other while using perfect manners, singing praise to our Father as they help all who are in need?

What if God is calling me...calling us...to get outside of ourselves and offer up our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God?

What if God is calling us to care for the orphans and widows...what if that isn't just a passage in the Bible that we can bypass?

What if God is calling you to give up your life for the sake of others?

What if it isn't about you?

What if God isn't asking you to save up a fortune for your retirement so that you can live comfortably?

What if He is asking you to give it all away?

What if He is asking you to sacrifice? Your comforts. Your desires. Your plans. For the sake of His kingdom.

Does that scare you?

It sure scares me.

I can think of many a time when I have day dreamed about being married, having kids, raising those kids, and getting to have my husband all to myself again. That sounds just about perfect to me. A Beautiful marriage, with Beautiful children, in our Beautiful family, living our Beautiful life. Safe. Protected. Financially stable. Connected.

But...what if God is calling you, calling me, to a harsher area?

What if He is calling us to actually talk about Him?

What if He is waiting for us to sing, "Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders..." and actually mean it so He can use us for His kingdom?

What if?

Does that scare you?

It scares me.

But I want to sing those words.

I want to sing them and mean it.

I want God to truly take me where my trust is without borders.

God is faithful.

When we accepted Christ, He never promised that our lives would be cushy. In fact, He warned us that it would be difficult. That we'd have to take up our cross and follow Him.

If that means that Jenna's plans to have a perfect family with her perfect husband in a house with A/C (At least! Because I NEED A/C. I will be perpetually grumpy without A/C. I won't be able to be a good wife or mother without A/C) are altered because we have to go to dangerous territory to tell unreached people groups about Jesus. So be it.

If that means I get married and we run an orphanage for the rest of our lives so we are never "just the two of us" again. So be it.

If that means that I have to give up my idea of a perfect introvert paradise retirement in order to love God and His people. So be it.

If that means that I have to stay in the States doing work here, even though I desperately want to leave this country and do mission work elsewhere. So be it.

If that means that I have to live in a hut in some warm climate culture. So be it.

If that means that I have to live in some suburb in a nice house or apartment. So be it.

If that means that I have to work a "normal" job that seems so mundane and unrewarding instead of being a full time misssionary...So be it.

That hurts.

I WANT to live in some culture that is not my own. In an area where I am forced to slow down and love people more intentionally. In a place where it takes a village to raise a child. In an area set apart from others.

(Maybe I won't want that as much once I've had more experience with it, because I know culture shock is incredibly hard...but.)

At this point in my life, I don't WANT to stay here in America. I WANT to get on a plane with a plan with only 45 pounds of material possessions to my name and just immerse myself in a culture that is not my own. I WANT to give everything away and live that kind of life. I WANT to learn to like the food, the people, the culture. I WANT to introduce people to Jesus. I WANT to learn a language from scratch and live with a native from the country that I enter. I WANT to be a missionary. My heart aches for that.

But my life is not my own. It is not about me. And if I tell God that I am giving Him my life, like I have, then I GET to follow Him wherever He would lead.

I can't tell God, "Here are my plans, I lay them at your feet, take me where my trust is without borders...as long as I don't have to stay in the States...or at the very least as long as I don't have to go to a bigger city than Kansas City....namely NEW YORK CITY!"

I can tell God, "Here are my plans, I lay them at your feet, take me where my trust is without borders." Period.

Our lives are not about living in such a way as to take care of number one.

Our lives are meant to love God and to love the people that He created...all of His children, even if they are "scary" or don't live life the way we do.

What if my life is all about dying?