Part 2: Abundant Life

Are we getting the hang of this yet?

Let me add just some of the notes I collected this morning and lets open this up. As people find our blog and respond, we can make this as rich an experience as we want.

• What is happening to the quality of our lifestyle? Robin and I find that we have a big enough house for us and may even downsize as our needs change. Perhaps location might be upgraded, but the relative lifestyle will probaby not change.
• Do we have the grace to say, "beyond this [level of lifestyle] we will give sacrificially to others."
• What do you think about Henri Nouwen (as Tony spoke about his book, Gracias) who lived and worked in the academic world of Harvard Divinity School part of the year and seeing life in Bolivia and Peru (I did a little research to find out what Tony was talking about)? Are there any insights that his efforts may apply to our lives today?
• Are we blinded to our need in trusting God and relying on Him by "false sense of securtity that wealth brings?" How can we live a 21st century life and remain true to our faith walk?
• Tony says that we could "love God and do as you please." That sure sounded good for a moment, but then the reality sets in. If we are pleasing God more and more each day, how can we continue a lifestyle that God would not approve of?
  
• How can we reconcile this with the increased responsibilities of a married life. Paul said in the I Corinthians reading that it is best not to get married. If you do, there is a lot of effort involved in maintaining that relationship.

In our discussions, then, we came down to some ideas about this "reasonable lifestyle." Perhaps this lifestyle is one where:

• Our basic needs are met. [Is there a baseline we can measure "basic" against?]
• We are better stewards for what God has given us, each in our own way.
• It would be better (easier??) in an place with fewer choices to distract us.
• We can look back at the benefits of the "blue laws" and similar attempts at reducing the immediate gratification of being able to just run to the store at any time- plus not having to work on God's day of rest.
• We don't "gotta have it all" including all the digital channels, all the other distractions from being better followers of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for still reading this. My hope is that we can keep Christ in our lives throughout the week by taking a moment to click over to the blog when you get the invite and adding your inspiration and comments.

Joe

First Session: Abundant Life: What is it?

This morning we spoke about what is a reasonable lifestyle, as Tony called it.

First, if you are wondering about who is our video host for these sessions, click on Tony's site. Don't forget to come back!

Our bible verses are: Matthew 5:-1-12 (The Beatitudes); Luke 6:20-36 ; Mark 4:1-20 (The Parable of the Sower); Isaiah 55:2-3 ; Romans 12:1-2 (Living Sacrifices); Mark 10:17-31 (The Rich Young Man); Galatians 5:13-25 ; I Corinthians 7 (Marriage); Luke 12: 16-34 (The Rich Fool).

[By the way, I will try to have the new scriptures ready before next Sunday so you just have to click and read them while preparing for our lesson.]

Take a moment read these and then we'll continue.

Comments so far? How do you answer the comment by John Wesley that we "Work as hard as you can to earn as much as you can, to spend as little as you can, in order to give away all that you can?"

Welcome to Christian Lifestyles

This blog is to help build a more close-knit community within our Christian Lifestyles class Sunday mornings at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church. Throughout the course of the next weeks, you find new reasons to come back- perhaps something to help reinforce the day's lesson, challenge you to continue with your walk with Christ into your workweek and perhaps even amuse you.

As you may know, our topic is "Curing Affluenza." See you Sunday morning.

If you are new to blogs, to read the entire post (that is the entire text of this current message), click on "recent posts" on the frame to the left. Then you will see the currentmessage and any comments that may have been added. You can add one, too.