How Would You Live?

How would you live if you were the only person on the Earth? Would your life look the same? Would you make all of the same choices? Imagine if there was no society to judge you; to conform you; to tell you what is okay and what is not okay. Would it make a difference in how you greeted each new day? Or, what if you loved God, but not your church so much because of their insistence on telling you how you should behave, what suitable behaviors should look like and a unhealthy disregard for what you thought or for that matter, liked? Wouldn’t that represent some new found freedom for you? Would you breathe a little easier or maybe not be besieged by as many contrary to self-thoughts? How nice it must be for people who have decided to live life on their own terms! Not evil terms, but terms based on absolute freedom to choose via free-will. Freedom is much more than living in a free country or not being in jail. Freedom is being able to choose for yourself, right or wrong, without fear of consequences for having made the wrong choice. Freedom is having the capacity to pick either side. Having one choice whether in reality or implied is not freedom, it is compliance, obligation, compulsion. None of us do well with things we HAVE to do. So my friends, what would you do if you could decide for yourself? How would you live?

Living in society the way we do, and I can sort of see why people seek to get off the grid, we don’t seem to recognize how much of the narrative of our lives is being written for us. We spend each day fighting the funnel that leads down the drain. They track us to buy things. They study our behaviors to see what we like. Collectively, we are presented with endless, negative commentaries concerning the coming dangers on the ever lengthening list of things we should fear. Not to mention the pervasive sting of judgment starting with ourselves, extending to our families and friends, then finally resting in society informing if we have been accepted or cancelled. For what are we being judged? Namely, if how we live is the right way to live based on how the other person thinks we should live. It has too many facets to list here, but can be easily contained in this maxim, “I read somewhere that _____ (insert thing to be afraid of) will lead to ______ (another thing to be afraid of) so it is my job to judge you for it. Hidden within is a man or a woman that spends all day judging themselves for coming up short of some standard, some rule, some damn thing someone said they have to do in order to be okay. Naturally being full of shit necessitates dumping that shit on someone else and on it goes until you get in line for your shit. Meanwhile, you are not living the life you want to live, you are living a life someone else wants you to live. Good lord, you don’t even know you are being herded anymore. “Just staring at my phone man, finding out what is the right thing to think, or should I say worry about, today. I don’t even know if I’m happy right now. I don’t have time there are things I have to do! Run, grind, work, fulfill obligations, comply, get back in line, shut up! Come on! How would you live?

Warning! I am about to say some things that will trigger all that performance based American logic you have been feeding on for years. It is not the best way to live. All of your discipline and hard work, if you will, really does not impact as much as you think it does. “…except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” In other words, you were never meant to try and control all that stuff you have been trying to control. Yes your hard work and your discipline matter. Self-control  is king, but it is limited as well. God is the one that makes thing work out for you, whether you have been “good” or not. All of these good-hearted folks living lives of full compulsion, miserable and defeated daily, ever trying to earn God’s favor, play a game that cannot be won. You don’t earn God’s favor, you accept it. You can’t make yourself good enough to deserve it nor can you bathe that old sin nature long enough that it finally comes clean. It is what it is and will continue to live according to what it is as long as you keep giving it prominence. What a grand deception. The sin God said died when His beloved son died still must be considered, worried about, held in mind forever. Try not to sin. Don’t do sins. God will love you only if you obey. And finally, you are not free to choose how you will live your life and you don’t really have a choice. Trigger warning number 2 – Jesus Christ paid for every misstep you have ever made or will make, despite how dramatic, and the consequences of those mistakes. Every single one! Now, when that glorious acceptance of your Savior takes place, and you finally stop making it about you, and you stop thinking God’s love and care is based on how well you behave, and you relinquish your persistence in trying to figure it all out, then for the first time in your life you will have real, true freedom. Freedom to choose without fear of consequences. Freedom to do the things you like and enjoy them absent censuring, judgment and guilt. This is what God wants for you, not more rules to live by, more requirements to fulfill, more exposure to what everybody else thinks. Man, how would you live?

It is safe to say you are not the only person on the Earth today. We are pack animals and need to live in the pack. But, we can live above the endless dictates of the pack as we have access to God and we are not wolves! We can discover true freedom and live this one precious opportunity in a way that we enjoy, that makes us feel alive, that satisfies what is important to us. All of the rest of it, every piece, every portion is just fear disguised and dictating how we should live, complete with the doomsday narrative. Don’t let people, even good hearted people, steal away the freedom God gave you. It cost Him a lot. How would you live?

Just some good thoughts…