The Only Good Thing

God isn't a concept. God isn't an idea, or a thought, or something that could be out there. He's not an old man leaning over a balcony, ready to hit us with a lightning bolt as soon as we do something wrong, he's not a God waiting to punish us.
God is real. God is there. He's here. Right here, right now. He's the force that created life. He's everything that ever was, and everything that ever could be. He does things that we can't imagine. He made the wind and the ocean, the trees and birds. He made the rain. But we still ignore him. We still blow him off and do our own things.
And we still, above all, get angry at him.
Do we even have that right? There's no way. So often, we get angry at God when things go badly. If we have something, and it gets taken, we're angry. And we choose to be angry at God. But we never stop to think about why we had so much in the first place. Who put it here? Who gave it to us? God gave it to us.
We don't have the right to be angry. Or happy. We don't have the right to clothes, food, or shelter. We don't have the right to friends, or family, or love. We don't have the right to an education, the feel of grass on our feet, or the warmth of the sun.
We don't have the right to live.
But He gave us life. God gave it to us. He gave us emotions, family, friends. He has given us so much, and He has given us his love. He created us to love. Then he gave us a choice, and what did we do with it? We tore his heart out, because time and time again, we choose to live for ourselves. After he gave us life, love, and hope, we broke his heart. And I'm not even going to start talking about salvation. He is the ONLY good thing, and we slap him in the face every single day.
And it's not just the big things that we have to give to him. It's everything. How we interact in the smallest ways can have a huge impact. A kind word instead of a harsh one can make someone's day, instead of ruining it. But still, for some inconceivable reason, we want to be mean. We want to be selfish, we want everything to be about us. And it doesn't even feel good. Sure, you get what you want now. Do you feel good? Forget about your body. Is your heart at peace? Is your soul resting, knowing that you've done the right thing to the best of your ability?
And when I say the best of our ability, I don't mean the "O, you tried. That's good enough." I mean the doing the absolute best you can, even if it's a major inconvenience to you. Absolute selflessness.
Is it really that hard to live like Jesus?
Why do we always have to live for ourselves? It's not like we matter. Others do. We're not the bomb. We're not the reason for life. HE IS!
The love of God is the very reason that we're on the earth! Let's stop ignoring it! Let's love, as Christ loved, and not for ourselves. Not for the wrong reasons. But because it's the right thing to do. Can we turn darkness into light? It's not that hard. We just tell ourselves that it is.
Sometimes things are hard. Sometimes things get tough. That's for a reason, every time. It's for OUR good. God's given us everything that he can to help us. Only we choose to push it away, time and time and time again. And then we come running back to him, realizing that we've done wrong. Then we run away again.
I can't count the times that I've told God I'd finally give him everything. But every time I've told him that, he's said "Sam...most things aren't everything. I mean everything. You're hurting me." But do I even get it? Can I? I don't know. But what I do get is huge. Why do I continue ignoring it??
God gave me everything. Why can't I give him all that I am?
Because I'm too cool, of course. I'm too good.
NO! I'm not. I'm not nearly good enough. If I was, God would just turn to me and say "Here. You can do better. Here's the universe to play around with."
Dear Sam:
Act like Jesus.
Love, God.
Every time I hear the story of Jonah explained, I laugh a little bit. Because Jonah was so angry when God saved the Ninevites. He was "angry enough to die." Why would anyone be angry that more than a hundred and twenty thousand people were just saved? Jonah is angry that God takes what God gave him. Jonah didn't realize that God provided in the first place. Is that so tough to get?
He gave us EVERYTHING.
It isn't complicated at all! He gave it all to us, we need to give it all to him. Hard?
Yeah. Sometimes. But isn't everything that's worth it difficult?
So many worldly things entangle us so much. Money, especially. If that was the most important thing on earth, I'm sure God would have told us so. But it's totally not, and it's still focused on so much. I can't deal with it sometimes.
The most important thing that God gave to us is others. That and the ability to love. What in the world could be more important than that?
It's not how much money we make that matters.
It's not how many gold medals we win.
It's not how many people know our name.
It's about the people. It's about how much joy you brought to others. About much you gave, not how much you got! It's about how you lived your life, not what you got out of it.
Will we deny to others what we demand for ourselves? Must we be selfish and they be servile? That's wrong. Way wrong. They matter more.
We all have the capacity to be kings. That's how God intended it. We just screwed it up. We're all kings with broken crowns.
So go ahead. Live your life. But do you really want it to be meaningless? Especially when it can be so meaningful?
So go. Feel the wind and smell the ocean. Taste the rain and remember: He is the only good thing. The only.
Wonder at that for a while. And then?
Do something about it.