Day 7: The Reason for Everything

What a gorgeous day today!! It was warm and sunny, free from rain, and gently windy. Just wonderful, if you ask me! Work went quite well, and I made preparations for a (hopefully) very nice dinner tomorrow for my hosts.. I owe them at least as much 😛

But, onto Day 7! And it’s a long one!! I’m tempted to counteract his length with a briefer reflection, but we’ll see what my fingers press on the keyboard.

The first sentence of this chapter captures it all: “It’s all for him.” Everything in the universe if for Him.. to show His glory. Warren writes that, by fulfilling our purposes, we bring glory to God. He lists five ways of bringing glory to God: worship, loving others, becoming like Christ, serving others, and telling others about Him.

I’m down with worship; I enjoy listening and singing worship songs (heck… I have those types of songs stuck in my head at work!!). I like praying. I really appreciate the beauty of nature. But I don’t do it all of the time.. sometimes I just forget, and others, I’m too lazy. Like I said in a previous post, it is so hard to be good. 🙁

Loving others is also quite difficult. As Billy Corgan wrote in a recent note on his website, “I even love my enemies… that doesn’t mean I want to hear them speak, but as one of God’s children I say I love you too…” I got a good chuckle out of this, because I’m somewhat like that, too, I guess. Sure, I can love them.. if they never associate with me. But isn’t that contrary to what I should be feeling? Shouldn’t I want to have a better relationship with the people I don’t like? Shouldn’t I forgive them as God has forgiven me, time and time again?

I have to say that becoming like Christ seems a bit far-fetched for me right now. I’m very unconfident with myself, so how could I ever become like God? I think I need more time to work this one out.

Serving others is something I also enjoy doing. I like volunteering at the Embassy and at the St. Paul’s chapel. I used to say that it was very rewarding because people appreciated it, but I have since realized that it should have very little to do with the others. The fact that I’m doing it to praise God should be satisfying enough.

And about spreading the Word, I haven’t reached that stage either. I don’t think that I know enough about Christianity, so I would not be the best person to answer the many difficult questions that would inevitably be asked. Perhaps, for now, I can spread it through my actions… and once I delve further into my faith and gain the confidence I am currently lacking, I can do more.

He ends the chapter off with a choice: who am I going to live for — myself or God? I think the choice should be obvious, but in no way is it the easiest. This is what he says, which I don’t like: “You may hesitate, wondering whether you will have strength to live for God. Don’t worry. God will give you what you need if you will just make the choice to live for him.” He makes it sound so easy. Just make the choice to live for him, and God will miraculously give me the strength to do it? I don’t know about that.

I think what bothers me about this is that it is not necessarily an informed decision to choose God. I don’t really know what a life for God implies in terms of a day-to-day lifestyle. Just like I didn’t know what real faith was when I got confirmed in the Catholic church. I just don’t know. I just need to, as he suggests, believe and receive.

Question to Consider: Where in my daily routine can I become more aware of God’s glory?

Um. Everywhere. From just waking up (and being thankful that I am alive) to the time I go to bed (and being grateful of still being alive and having what hopefully was a good day), I can always devote more attention to God. I am struggling very much to move God to the center of my life. 🙁

This entry was posted is filed under Public.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.