Life
Glyn Barrett looks at some of the ingredients that make up life. It's not all of them, but it's a great start.
1. Life is about PERMISSION
In 1 Timothy 4:12 it says, 'Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example.' For many years I thought the verse was telling us to be 'Examples' in everything we do. Now I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like fun. In school at times, the punishment inflicted on me by teachers was not worthy of the crime, they were harsh, but I was being used as an example not to break the rules so that other students did not. Being an example, sounds so .......SQUARE!!!!! Usually in school if a teacher was to name a student as an example of what a 'model student' was like, that poor kid would get beaten up later by his fellow students. So, who wants to be an EXAMPLE??!! But the power of the verse is actually outlined in the first two words.... 'Don't let'. In other words.......PERMISSION.
Paul (The writer of the book of Timothy) is writing to.....you guessed it...Timothy. HE was saying, "Hey Timothy, if you feel intimidated because of other people, it's not their fault, it's yours. You gave your permission to be intimidated! Don't give your permission any more."
How often in life do we hand out our permission so freely?;
Someone ruins our day (We have given them permission to do so)
Someone insults as & we carry it with us (We gave permission for that insult to stay with us)
Someone did something in our past. It was horrible and destructive (We gave permission for that thing that took place years ago to affect us negatively today)
The Bible is teaching us to 'Stay in control' of our lives and 'NOT LET' bad things that happen, affect us negatively over a period of time.
In short, Bad stuff DOES happen to good people, we need to learn to take it to God, and not live in the light of the past or what people say or try to do, RATHER, we should live in the light of what God has planned for our lives, and that is exciting.
2. Life is about learning to BE YOU!
We have all tried to be like someone else at sometime. Perhaps we have imitated a pop star whilst singing into the mirror. Perhaps we have dressed a certain way in an attempt to be like someone else. Perhaps we have even tried to walk or talk in a vain attempt to NOT BE OURSELVES, and be like someone else.
The first time I ever had to preached, I copied the sermon word for word from an American preacher. Needles to say it was horrible & every time I have fallen into the trap of trying to be like someone else since, it has all gone horribly wrong!
In Proverbs 18:16 it says, 'The gift makes way for the giver'. In other words God created you unique. There are things that only YOU can do, when you discover that and do it, life takes on a whole new meaning. The gifts that God has given you, go before you and open the way for you. You walk into opportunity & more opportunity because God has made you to be you & blesses you to be you.
There are two great days in your life. The day you are born & the day you realise what you are born for. Instead of being like another person, spend some time talking to God and reading the Bible & discover what you were born for. BE YOU, because YOU do YOU the best!
3. Life is understanding YOU ARE IT!
'Your young & carefree and next thing you know you are in University & moving on into a job (possibly marriage) & or further education'. There are always moments in life that are 'Wake up call moments'. My daughter is five years old. When she was two, I was sitting in my back garden when I suddenly realised, 'I have a swing in my back garden & it's not mine, it's my daughters'. I then realised 'I have a daughter, a mortgage, a wife........and a SWING!' The last thing I knew I was 12, now I am 29 and I have a swing!'
Those moments make you realise - you are it! You can't defer to other people and expect Mum to pick up your socks forever. You can't always play on the PS2 and eat Pizza with your friends. You are IT & if life is gonna kick it, you've gotta get down to business and make some serious decisions about you life!
In Ezekiel 22:30 in the Bible, God says, 'I looked for one person who would stand in the Gap on behalf of the city!' God is still looking for a generation of people who will stand up and be counted, People who will say, 'I am it - I am going to make life count on behalf of God in my school, college, university, family & career'
4. Life is about finding RESONANCE!
Resonance is a musical term. If you were to get two grand pianos in a room & play middle C, resonance would take place. The string on that piano would vibrate and you would hear a sound. That sound would move from the piano go through the windows and doors, bounce off the walls, in one of your ears and out the other but eventually that note would find middle C on the other Piano, and that string would begin to vibrate also. Nobody has played the Middle C key on the second piano, it merely resonates with the first one.
Life is about identifying resonance. You will best understand it when you hear someone speaking and your heart skips a beat & you come alive to something. In all the relationships I build with people throughout the world, the first thing I look for is resonance. I ask myself, 'When I hear that person talk, do I come alive?' If the answer is yes, then I make the choice to connect with that person.
Resonance is Biblical too. In Luke 23:32, men had 'Resonance when they were with Jesus'! There hearts BURNED while Jesus was talking. That's what Church, youth & your next youth conference should be like.
Don't just go to every Christian camp and conference, find a place that connects with you & makes you come alive - LIFE will then take an exciting turn for the better.
5. Life is about BEING BRITISH! (Sorry if your not!!)
In Australia as a child we used to play a game called 'British Bulldog'. One of the kids would stand in front of all his mates and say, 'Come over' and the idea of the game was that the kids would run from one side of the field to another, and the poor guy in the middle had to tackle another child to recruit them into helping him catch others.
I was always intrigued that the game was called British bulldog and not Australian Kangaroo or French poodle or German Shepherd. It was called British Bulldog because it sums up something that made Britain Great!
It is a spirit or attitude that says, 'I may be small, but I'll ave you!' Britain is only a small nation, but its empire spanned the globe, and even today many countries around the world pay allegiance to the Queen of England.
David had that attitude in the Bible when He fought Goliath ( See 1 Sam 17). He said to Goliath, 'I may be small, BUT I'll ave you' (Perhaps David was British!)
When the power of God (see Acts 2) meets a young person who is ready to be used by God, the effects are incredible. Literally you have an attitude that says, 'I may be small but I'll ave you'. Your school, college, or university is no longer too big to reach for God. Your village, town or city is no longer unreachable with the Gospel. Your huge problems are now not going to stop you any more........WHY.....two reasons............(1) Your British (2) The Power of God is within you and so...................You may be small, but you can have a massive influence!
6. Life is about making CHRIST YOUR ALL!
In Colossians 3:4, Paul says, 'When Jesus, who is your life, appears......' I love that statement. Jesus is not just an added extra to life, a little bonus to help us get through. He's not the buy 1 get 1 free kind of deal you get at ASDA, he is your life!
Often in church, we can get caught up with stuff. In fact, life becomes full of stuff! We leave home to go to university or we get married and get a little house and we buy stuff to fit in it. Soon, we have more than enough stuff, and we buy a shed and fill it and the attic with stuff. We then buy a bigger house and realise, we haven't got enough stuff to fill it, so we buy more, then build another shed and fill that attic. Some people even pay to store their stuff in warehouses - life gets so full of stuff, it gets stuffed.
Often our Christianity becomes a focus on stuff! The style, the program, the people, the songs, the pastor, blah blah blah and we often lose sight of the main attraction which is Jesus, who incidentally isn't a side attraction, he is the main attraction.
Don't just fall in love with going to church, fall in love again with the person who died to make the church possible....Jesus. If life becomes centred on church, you'll get disappointed, because people are in church and they disappoint. But if you centre your life of JESUS, then you can cope with difficulties and problems at church, because you have learnt to get your life source from Jesus who NEVER disappoints!
7. Life is about HAVING FUN!
Who wants to be boring? (I can't see many hands going up).
I think God has an image problem! There is nothing wrong with God, it's his image that has a problem. The Bible says in Genesis 1:26 that man is created in God's image. The Christian's "job" is to represent God to a lost and dying world who is looking for answers but only finding a temporary fill for an eternal problem.....the need for a Saviour.
The nation has an image of Jesus that is a far cry from the real Jesus of the Bible. For the Christian, people who don't know God should be saying to them....'I don't know what you are smoking, drinking, chewing or injecting, BUT I have got to get some of that'
The bible calls the gospel 'GOOD NEWS'. Notice it is good news and not bad news. Some churches and Christians look like bad news, but the gospel is good news.
The good news is that it is ok to have fun. Enjoy life and the secret is out ...............'God's way is best!'
I love doing life with God - IT IS FLIPPIN BRILLIANT
Glyn Barrett is the Director of Audacious and Youth Alive UK. He is a sought after communicator and author. Glyn and his wife, Sophia, are the Senior Pastors of Audacious City Church. They live in Manchester with their two children, Gorgia and Jaedon.