Best Life Now!

 "Love your neighbor as yourself." Leviticus 19:18

I think we can all say we want to be better people, or as Joel Osteen and Oprah would say, to live our best life now. It's funny though that most people would rather read a self-improvement book, or go to meditation classes, or pinterest for advice rather than go to our "instruction manual", the Bible. If there is something wrong with my sewing machine or juicer, I scan the manual, because the manufacturer could tell me how to fix it. Invariably, the manual says I have to read all the instructions before using, or for for optimum results, something like that. We have an instruction manual too, from OUR manufacturer!

In today's reading there are so many instructions on how to live our best life. A lot of people think these instructions are a way to get to heaven, but they're not. These were given to a people already saved by God, a people of faith. God had freed them from a life of bondage in Egypt, and God told them to keep His laws because they were His people, a people set apart.

God can be so detailed in his instructions. For instance, I did not realize that if I did not pay my Ate Lucy (helper at home), that this was against God's best for me! "You should not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer," it reads in Lev. 19:13. I have to confess I have been delayed in paying my helper for all sorts of reasons! In Matthew 25:40, it says, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me." Whenever I do not pay Ate Lucy on time, or get angry or impatient with somebody, or slander someone's name, I have to remember that I do it to Jesus.

When God instructs us to love, it is because He loves. He cares, not only about my Ate Lucy, but He cares about me. That I live my best life now.

 God can be so detailed in his instructions. For instance, I did not realize that if I did not pay my Ate Lucy (helper at home), that this was against God's best for me! "You should not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer," it reads in Lev. 19:13. I have to confess I have been delayed in paying my helper for all sorts of reasons! In Matthew 25:40, it says, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me." Whenever I do not pay Ate Lucy on time, or get angry or impatient with somebody, or slander someone's name, I have to remember that I do it to Jesus.

When God instructs us to love, it is because He loves. He cares, not only about my Ate Lucy, but He cares about me. That I live my best life now.

 "Follow me," Jesus said to Levi. Luke 5:27

Jesus saw Levi, a tax collector, sitting at the customs post. This is where he usually sits. He collects taxes, and like most publicans, perhaps even all, he was reviled by the Jews for his collaboration with the Roman oppressors. A tax collector during Jesus' time could stop Jews on the road and tax them for the baggage they were carrying! Jesus calls out, "Follow me," and Levi left all the money bags on the table, and walked with Jesus.

Like Levi, Jesus calls us where we are, whatever we are doing. We may not be occupied with sinful things like Levi, who would have been greedy and kept part of the collected taxes for himself. But even while we are washing dishes, teaching, playing golf, looking though friends' posts on Facebook, Jesus calls us.

When He calls, and we decide to follow, we have to leave certain things behind. We have to avoid sin. If we knew what sin does to us spiritually, we would stay far away from it just as we stay away from the Ebola virus. We can see what this virus does- it makes people bleed internally and externally, and it kills up to 90% of those infected.

 How about sin? We can't see what it does to our soul, and our soul is the one that lasts forever. Our bodies will just be consigned to the crematorium or left in a hole in the ground. I am sure that sin does worse things to our souls than the Ebola virus!! If we are able to stay away from sin, we can celebrate and Jesus will celebrate with us, much like Levi rejoiced in his new found freedom!

 "...He remained in the desert for 40 days tempted by Satan..." Mark 1:12

Isn't it amazing that Jesus prayed and fasted for 40 days? That He allowed Himself to be tempted by Satan? The way I see this is Jesus was aware of the life and death battle to come and He needed to prepare Himself. To win a battle, like Jesus, we need to know our strengths and weaknesses, and we also need to know our enemy's strategies.

It's amazing how many people don't know themselves! Just look at some of the aspiring contenders in American Idol who think they can sing. They get so mad and curse when they are not chosen. Do we know ourselves? Jesus said in Matthew 26:41 that we need to watch and pray so we don't fall into temptation. Watching ourselves is of primary importance. We need to know our areas of weakness, our character flaws, and the times when we are most vulnerable. Dr. Charles Stanley said we must never get too hungry, too lonely, too angry, or too tired. This is a set up for sin.

If I am prone to buy expensive things and I am already in debt, I should never go to the mall during pay day, or get a credit card! If a friend likes to gossip, and I do too, I should avoid that friend! In 1 Peter 5:8 we are warned that we should be alert and vigilant because the devil, our enemy, is like a prowling lion, seeking someone to devour! He is like a chess grand master, devising strategies on the chessboard, building up his pieces till we have little room to maneuver, and our king falls!

But as a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit. If we say no to temptation, if we keep sin out of our lives, the Spirit gets stronger in us. But every time we fall into temptation and say yes to sin, the voice of the Spirit, our conscience, gets weaker.

Lord, help me to watch and pray. Help me to say no to sin, and to uproot it from my life!

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