Your Best Life Now
St. Matthew by Andrea Orcangan,
1367-70, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Matthew 7:7-12 and 24-27
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
A good friend and I were talking about the difference between positive and negative thinkers. He asked me to write a few words of encouragement on the subject of "expecting God's best, instead of praying for the worst not to happen." I began to research and pray, and what follows is the message I received to share with you.
Joel Osteen is perhaps the most popular minister on the planet right now. His ministry is very successful; he sells millions of books and has the largest Christian congregation in the United States. At Lakewood Church in Houston, they worship 30,000 people every Sunday. We are crowded and blessed at Grace Fellowship in Warner Robins when we worship with a group of 50. I don't, however, feel that this is indicative of the success or failure of God's message. It is a joy to know that God does not play the numbers game. Every one of us is important to Him. God pays as much individual attention to one person as He does 30,000.
Joel Osteen's first big bestselling book is called Your Best Life Now. In it he brings the message that God intends to bless each of us and that we should expect nothing but the best from God. Pastor Osteen writes that we will "begin our journey to a brighter future" by following these seven steps:
- Enlarge your vision
- Develop a healthy self-image
- Discover the power of your thoughts and words
- Let go of the past
- Find strength through adversity
- Live to give
- Choose to be happy
These are wonderful steps toward living life with a positive attitude. Your best life is already inside you just waiting to get out! Human words and concepts can be gifts from God and can change lives when a person or group of people accept them and put them into practice. What about God's word on the subject? In our text for today from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses metaphor and parable to tell us what God is like and to describe His relationship to us.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." When we do this, God will do this. Our actions in a relationship with God produce actions on the part of God. "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." This is a guarantee from Christ that God is listening and always responds
Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil (this is a comparison-we are not nearly as good as God is), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
This is a description of how good God is, how much more loving, giving and interested God is in us, than we are in each other, even as compared to our own children. You know how much you love your child (or your wife, your husband, your family)? It's truly amazing, but it is a fact, that God loves us even more! This lesson from Jesus is describing a relationship that God desires us to enter into. Talk to God; share your life with Him in prayer. Keep your relationship with God in the front of your mind, when things happen, good or bad, think of the One who loves you, think about God and consider what His response to your situation is. Jesus tells us very plainly here that God's response is to give us the best—"good gifts to those who ask Him." In the parable of the wise and the foolish builders, Jesus explains that "everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."
By putting Jesus' words into practice, we lay a solid foundation for our lives that can withstand the storms of life. In every situation, if we consider what God's response would be, we will find a brick wall, a rock. God's promises are not the kind of brick wall that we run in to. Most times, we run into a brick wall when we are directing our own steps and we run into a truth about life that is non-moveable. We are going along under our own steam, we build up speed in our own strength, and we run into a brick wall such as an unpaid mortgage, an overdue power bill, a traffic law we have broken, or something much worse. Humanity has built these brick walls to control us, to maintain order in society, a man-made order.
In contrast, God has built a rock for us, a brick wall that we can stand on and count on. We can use God's rock as a foundation to build our life around. It is solid ground under our feet when the storms and the tough times come. This is God's provision for humanity, not to control us, but to love us and to provide for us, and to direct our steps toward showing God's love to others.
And what if we are not building ourselves on His foundation? We are "like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." If we do not hold on to God as tightly as we can, as tightly as He wants us to, the road will be tougher than He has designed it to be. God provides a way to get through the mess, and it will not be as easy for us if we don't hold on to Him. Jesus doesn't say "feel guilty about not following my words." He doesn't say "beat yourself up when you fail." Jesus simply describes God's plan for us and the benefits of a relationship with Him.
Jesus talks about our relationship with His Father, and with Him, and with each other, over and over again. To be fair, in our humanity, I think we just have so many distractions, from the world, from our own thoughts; that we have to be reminded over and over again about what God is like, what Jesus does, and how we are to respond. I know I have to be reminded every day how to act and how much God loves me.
What Pastor Osteen offers is very valuable, but it essentially describes our relationship with ourselves. "Enlarge your vision" and "Develop a healthy self-image." Each of the seven steps Pastor Osteen describes are things that encourage us to do everything we can do to live a better life.
I only want to add to Joel's offerings here. Not everyone will be a "bright-side" thinker. To some, the glass is half-empty, to some it is half-full. I do know that you are made in the image of God and as such, you are precious and perfectly made. It takes all kinds to make a world. If we were all bright side thinkers, not only would the world be sickeningly sweet, but I think we would miss part of God's message to us.
Jesus wasn't always in a good mood. Jesus didn't always turn a bad situation into a good one by "deciding that it was good," or thinking positively in every situation. Jesus turned the tables over at the Temple in anger, because that was what He felt, and that was what was needed to make His point. God was not being honored in His house of prayer.
From everything I have read about him, I feel sure that the underlying intent of Joel Osteen's message is to encourage us to deepen our relationship with God. I do fear however, that at first glance, it is a self-help book and what is being stressed is what we can do to help ourselves.
Jesus tells us that it is a relationship with God that will sustain us. It is our relationship with God in prayer, our relationship with God in listening for His voice in every situation that will provide the foundation for a better life, our "Best Life Now." Jesus came to show us how to build a relationship with the God who loves us.
We don't have to be happy all the time. We don't have to think positively all the time. These are human goals that are unattainable by some people. We are all fashioned by the lives we have led and the way life has treated us. That is our "human nature."
The most important trait we have, our goal for life should be to develop our "Godly nature." God can, and will, transform our human nature into His Godly nature, as we ask, seek, knock, and build our foundation on His promises of eternal love, unconditional forgiveness, and ultimately eternal life with Him, though the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Some of us are "bright side" thinkers. Some of us are irritatingly so, like myself. Others have lived a different reality, and have human attitudes which reflect what they've been through. Not to worry or feel guilty whichever way you are. Happy, Grumpy, Dopey, and Sneezy are all made in the image of God and all unconditionally loved.
What counts the most is our Godly nature, our accepting and relying on the promises of God, that "everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." And that we are to build our lives, our houses and our minds, on the foundation of God's mighty love, for when "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet (we) did not fall, because (we have our) foundation on the rock."
God does not need our permission to do what He does. Jesus did not need our say so to give His life for us. It is "mission accomplished," and I have discovered this truth: God has His best in store for us, whether we expect it or not.