Stewardship and The City - Part 1

I have a bit of a penchant for trashy reality television - not Jerry Springer or even Oprah, but stuff like Keeping up with the Kardashians, The Hills and most recently, The City, a spin-off of the Hills with a focus on the character (real-life person?) Whitney.

Whitney is a twenty-something girl looking to forward her career in fashion in New York, whilst enjoying the lifestyle that a cashed up kid from LA is used to. Every shot of the program reveals the cosmopolitan nature of the city, the aesthetic brilliance of each outfit worn, and the drama of Whitney's life. I won't deny that I sometimes, whilst watching the show, have been drawn into the bright lights and independent, exciting lifestyle that only those with abundant money can afford.

I realised two things after isolating this thought. The first was, hang on, in the entire scheme of the world, in its true perspective, I DO live that lifestyle. I am in the lucky portion of the world that has four walls to shelter me. I have completed secondary studies, and am undertaking tertiary education. I have a disposable income at the point of my life which, in percentage terms, I probably won't have after I finish uni. I have parents that love me and support me, both financially and spiritually. I am in NO WAY in need, I own an iPod, a laptop, jewellery, musical instruments, shoes, hair straighteners, books, cds, abundant food, pay tv. I have clean running water. I live in a house with the same number of bedrooms as people living in it. There are SO many people in the world that do not even have sufficient food to live on. I heard a figure once that if you have four walls around you for a house, you are in the top ten percent of the rich people in the world. Let's face it, I am rich on the world's scale. I live a rich person's lifestyle. I'll explain myself further in Stewardship and the City Part II.

The second thing I realised was that a lifestyle of glamour, independence and money, whilst gratifying the needs of NOW, will never fully satiate my desire to live a meaningful life. In fact, nothing apart from having Jesus Christ as my Lord will ever satisfy me because I WAS MADE FOR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. Every human on this planet was. And we all find a cheaper alternative to weakly satisfy this desire we have to find meaning - family, friends, sex, work, drugs, music, relationships. But the problem is, that these things can never satisfy. They are weak gods that never fully satisfy. They were never meant to.

Jesus said, 'Seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be added to you.' God knows what we need. We need relationship with him. We need Jesus' sacrifice. We need His way of living. We can do nothing without Him.

My prayer for myself and for you is that we would never give in to the lie that we can find meaning apart from having a grace-secured relationship with our Maker and Creator. It is only then that we realise just how richly blessed we are.

Do you have this relationship with God?

Forty three

I know in my head that we find purpose in being in relationship with God. This is THE purpose of life, right? Yes, I agree.

Then how come I feel so listless? That my life doesn't really have any set direction? I feel like I am cruising along in life.....yes, taking opportunities as they come, but not having an overall purpose.

Does anyone else feel this way? Sometimes I feel guilty because I know that as a Christian I DO have purpose, but I often don't feel fulfilled. We have the job of spreading the gospel, that is a great job to have. I'd love to have other goals as well, personal ones.

I feel like 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'....but I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for. I'm hoping it's a phase that will pass because it is really just a feeling - I know I have purpose in Jesus Christ and building relationship with God and other people. I just don't feel it at the moment.

Away with your noisy worship...

So music is awesome, right? I think we all know that. Excluding Jesus its gotta be at least top 5 best blessings God has given the world. But there's a lot of dodgy music out there. And I'm sad to say, a lot of that dodgy music is Christian music!

Now, I know that us Christians can be PARTICULARLY picky about Christian music, especially Christian musicians. A lot of it is 'pop' music, or pretty manufactured. It's missing a depth, a certain mood that really punctures our hearts and turns simple words into life-giving mantras. Maybe it's just an Indie ideal, but I like my music to have depth, lyrics that MEAN something, and music that imprints those words on my mind for the next 5 minutes, 2 hours, or week. And I think there are too little Christian artists out there creating this kind of music. You might wanna let me know about the good ones.

Cue Jon Foreman. Who? I hear you say. That guy from Australian Idol that does all the music? I'm pretty sure that's JoHn Foreman, haha! No, this Jon Foreman is the lead singer from Switchfoot. He's gone all solo side project on his Switchfoot bandmates, and released four EPs: Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter.

There's something different about this guy from all the other Christian artists out there, I can hear it in the music. There's a depth to his music that I've never encountered. The lyrics are so obviously inspired by the bible, almost word for word in some songs. There's always a danger in doing this, I can think of a few church songs that have tried this and failed. (Try fitting 10 syllabus in one line of music. Doesn't make for a musically uplifting experience.) But JF does it so well, and I think that it works because the music supporting it is real. Polyrhythms, unconventional instrument use, passionate and breathy vocal tones all combine to make music that, for me, is the right temperature to warm and penetrate my heart.

It's hard to put it into words. The right music can alert me to the truths of Scripture in a way that just reading them could never do. JF's music takes the truths of God and writes them in my heart. Listening 'White as Snow' with my bible open at Psalm 51, it is as though the words on the page are alive. 'Equally Skilled' gives life to Micah 7. I want 'Your Love is Strong' (a new take on the Lord's Prayer and Matthew 6:25-34) as my wedding processional :).

I am so thankful that there are Christians out there putting their all into making music that MEANS something. If music ministry is a Word ministry, surely meditating on God's words and engraving them into our hearts with music is a worthwhile thing to do. God does the work: 'I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.' Jeremiah 31:33.

Dreams

Dreams are awesome, awesome things until you wake up and reality smacks you in the face like a doctor smacks a newborn baby.

As a Christian, I know that some of my dreams won't line up with God's plan, and I should seek God's will in my life instead of filling my life with everything I want. But what if what I want and what God wants are the same thing? It's hard to let go of those dreams.

Case and point: marriage.  I know that God designed marriage, and His plan is that most people will get married. But I can never really be sure that I'm going to be married....so should I desire it as much as I do now? I know that it is a good thing....I also know that God wants me to practise contentment in my single life.  It's SO HARD, though.

If I knew what would happen in my life, then I'd probably be a lot more content. But it isn't my job to know the future: it's God's.  So I need to know my place...and trust God. It's not hard to put your trust in someone who has the best interests and his glorious plan at heart.