Giving Meaning to Life by Pursuing a Meaningful Course
-Our being alive today is an enough testimony that the Lord has been so good to us, because unless the Lord builds the house,they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
-Unless the Lord watches us and our perceived achievements and success then those who watch do it in vain(It’s God who takes care of us).
-There was a certain man there who had suffered with a deep-seated and lingering disorder for thirty-eight years,
when Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are you really in earnest about getting well?],the invalid answered, Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come [into it] myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.
-This gentleman who was at the pool of healing for 38 years, though he was so near to his healing but he overstayed in that very position and condition for 38 years because he banked so much on other people’s sympathy for the change of his condition.
-Don’t wait for somebody else to come and help you, rise up pick up your mat and follow Jesus, everybody else that you meet in this life is struggling with personal issues, so stop mourning at the place of solution, the Bible says that even a living dog is better than a dead lion, rise up and pick up your mat and because God who started the good work in you is faithful to complete it.
-If you still have people to complain about and people to blame for your misfortune then the probability remains that you may stay at the pool of solution still waiting for your miracle for long.
-In order for you to Live for a course ,then Matthew 6:33 should have a greater meaning to you, you must have things that are first in your life.
Matthew 6:33-But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.
-Jesus said that, there are some things that you must follow while some things will just follow you if you set your priorities right, therefore there is no need of you following them, just pursue what you should in Christ Jesus and all these other things shall follow you.
-Is it interesting to note that the woman who anointed Jesus before His death wasn’t part of His ministry but despite her being considered as a wicked woman(a harlo), she still was sensitive enough to pick up the seasons of God and anointed the Body of Christ for His preservation when the so called Holier than thou disciples and pharisees couldn’t pick up the divine signals hanging in the atmosphere.
-To live a meaningful life then you must first have things in your life that comes first(You must have personal moments where you sit down and analyse the things that you call first).
-If there is nothing that you call first in your life, then you can’t claim to be pursuing a course but will go round and round in the jungle of life struggling for nothing.
-You give meaning to your life when you are able to identify your priorities.
-You cannot be everywhere and be everything and still be relevant.
-People who have succeeded in life are those who have set their priorities first and right.
-Without setting up your priorities then you might find yourself being a champion of everything but master of none.
Matthew 13:44-The kingdom of heaven is like something precious buried in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.
-There are principles that you should set as your priority in order to enjoy the commanded blessings like for you to live long then it’s very simple just honour your father and mother(therefore there is no need for you to keep on praying for long life if you aren’t willing to keep and practice the principle of honoring your parents, parents doesn’t just mean biological ones alone but this includes anybody who has introduced you to any meaningful field that has given you some advantages either in business, marriage, ministry etc).
-You grow when you give, and not when you receive,because the gifts that you receive only sustain your status, but doesn’t make you grow,so by the grace of God work hard to be a giver.
-It’s always a great joy and a blessing to extend a hand of giving.
-Even when you receive also purpose to give.
-Even God Himself gives bread to the eaters, but seed to the sower, therefore the choice is yours to either be a giver or an eater.
Matthew 13:45-46-Again the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a dealer in search of fine and precious pearls,
Who, on finding a single pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.
-The kingdom of heaven is like something precious buried in a field, which a man found and hid it again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.
-This treasure was hidden, so that those who don’t t value it cannot get it.
-Why do the rich only lend to the rich and cannot give anything to the poor, is because the rich know and understand better that their fellow rich men knows how to work hard and earn money (only the rich knows the pain and hardwork that involves getting money unlike lazy poor characters).
-You can’t find when you aren’t seeking, that’s why the Bible says that when the man found it he hid it again.
-This man found the treasure when he was alone, he would have taken the treasure and kept it secretly ,but he still decided to go and sell all that he had so that he could buy the land from the owner.
-The owner did not even know that his land had a precious treasure hidden in it, but the man who secretly found it, purposed within himself that
he not going to take this treasure for free, he saw it better not to own a treasure that costed him nothing so he opted to pay the full price to the owner.
-It is a blessing to have resources as believers because there’s no glory in poverty.
-Any principle that you believe in and practice will always work for you.
-You cannot pursue that which doesn’t give you joy,no wonder the Bible says that out of joy,this man sold all that he had and bought the piece of land .
-If you are to have a meaningful life,then you must first find something that has value than all you have and forsake the rest and fully go for it.
-All the Great men you read about in the Bible, are people who found something they called first, they found something of greater value that gave them joy to pursue it.
-Entertain relationships based on who values, what you value.
-Avoid limiting your life trying to please people because when you die most people will be anxious to bury you, and nobody will pray for your resurrection even your so called dear friends,so live according to God’s purpose for your life and not according to people’s vain wishes.
-Don’t fear failure, if are doing what God has told to do, because even if you try doing it and it doesn’t work then at least you did something(atleast you tried).
-Just step into the water like Peter,(the other disciples might have criticized Peter, they might have said he was proud and full of himself, but Peter still went ahead and walked on water, even if he started sinking, it on record that a part from Jesus, it’s only Peter that ever walked on water.
-Apart from Jesus, Peter is the only other human being recorded in the history of men to have walked on water.
-Just work-out on your value and find something to live for.
-In this life, you must have things that we call irreducible minimum, people must know your irreducible minimum, if you believe in prayer, don’t make anyone make you stop praying, there should be some stories that you shouldn’t entertain and people should know that.
-There are treasures that only the diligent will access.
-There must be a value that devalues all other values, the man sold all that he had, to buy this one treasure.
-Greatness is achieved ,you must reach to a point where you pursue a course that has no alternatives nor the otherwise.
– Jesus asked His disciples do you also want to leave ,but Peter answered Him,we have left everything to follow you, where else shall we go, unfortunately the 72 who left Jesus’ ministry are never mentioned again.
-Until you rise up and begin doing something meaningful about it, then it’s not yet a course, if you are still thinking about it,then it’s not yet a course.
-Interestingly, all the names that we call ourselves after the great people in the Bible, but unfortunately our walk with Christ is far from them(we have so many people today called after Peter,John,Abraham, Isaac, David, Stephen etc but in real sense we don’t reflect the lifestyle of these Generals of Faith at all).
-There were many people at the time of Noah, but the only thing we hear about them is that, they were drowned in water.
-Moses,David,Abraham, Peter etc had age-mates and friends, David had fellow shepherd boys, but we never read about them.
-Nobody is less privileged to succeed because even Esther was an orphan ans a mere house girl in a foreign land,Modecai was a mere watchman in a foreign land but this great people decided to rise up and did something meaningful that changed their status that’s why they are reference points even today after many years past.
-Great men overcame embrassment and shame to become great.
-People must ridicule you, before they celebrate you.
-What do think people said about the disciples that followed Jesus everywhere
(they could have been considered as irresponsible men who has abandoned their families and wives to follow a mere young carpenter’s son who didn’t even have a place to even lay His own head).
-May God give you the grace to run your race and pursue a course as you give meaning to your life. Pastor Stephen orony shine his light ministry