Did you really come into the world with nothing?
It may sound blasphemous but I’m not sure I fully agree with the apostle Paul when he wrote in his letter to Timothy, “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.” (1 Timothy 6:7 NASB)
Materially speaking Paul is, of course, absolutely right and the context in which Paul makes his admonition is one in which he underscores the temporal nature of worldly riches and the relative futility of prioritizing the pursuit of such gain in light of eternity. So in this sense, Paul and I are on the same page and it is with tongue in cheek that I go on to unfairly split hairs. All in an effort to look more closely at what exactly you came into the world with. Namely, your Self.
What is this Self of yours?
You were made in God’s own image. This one fact alone unleashes more wondrous thinking than can be embraced in a lifetime! Your creativity and imagination, your ability to feel, appreciate and love are slivers of this indescribable gift of being made in God’s image. All spring from the potential of Self you came into the world with. For you are a living thought of Almighty God, unlike any other person in all the world over the vast expanse of all time. As C.S. Lewis said, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”
Far from coming into the world with nothing, you came with an immortal Self. A self that will either become increasingly more or increasingly less like your Heavenly Father over the course of your life.
What will your Self be like when you leave this world?
Much depends on the choices you make along the way. Much depends on whom you follow. Which leads me to the topic of calling.
I define calling as the lived-out response to Jesus’ invitation to follow him into the fullness of what his Father’s love intends for you to become, and in the becoming, do. Living out who you truly are!
The thing you have the greatest responsibility for stewardship over is your Self. For it is your Self that you will give an account for and present to the God who created you. The Self that was a blank slate when you were born, now molded by the choices you have made, is what you present back to the One who created you.
Material riches become meaningless in Heaven’s economy. It is character that counts. Character that unfolds from the never-ending action of overcoming and becoming. All the while learning how to love: God first and our neighbor as ourself. Following hard after our Elder Brother and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Michael
Does calling play the definitive role in your life it should?
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