Seeking Peace and Contentment in Life
There is within the heart of most people a desire for safety, freedom of thought, and opportunity to succeed in desired endeavors they may attempt. This is not just some utopian ideal; this is the desire of most people in the world. As we look about us we must make constant decisions about events and privileges extended to us in this life, those opportunities and privileges may be good for us or they may be bad for us[1]. I Say, good or bad, understanding that there are different ideals about what is good and what is bad. Even thought there are differing views about determining good or bad we must make decisions regularly that affect our life and the life of others in many situations. Because we live in a world that is in constant change (I.e., moral. ethical. spiritual, etc.), we must be careful that we do not create problems for ourselves that we cannot undo. For instance, there are things that I may choose to put into my body (I.e., illegal drugs, alcoholic beverages, etc), that will shorten my life and perhaps cause me to become involved in the maiming or death of someone who is innocent. Indeed, I may make a choice to put things into my body that may damage me and might cause me to unwillingly maim or kill someone else. You see, the choices we make may affect me as an individual but the peripheral damage that my choices cause others may be inexcusable. The secular law may convict a person of a felonious crime because he/she unwittingly harmed another person or persons because of their bad choice to put a mind altering substance inside their body.
A PERSON MAY OR MAY NOT CONTRIBUTE TO PEACE AND CONTENTMENT
Because we all have free moral agency it is our choice to do whatever we want to do, even to breaking laws that we know will cause us loss of freedom if we violate them. There are many people who practice many forms of law violation daily, yet they care not that they are in violation of law, both of man and of God. The lifestyle and choices each person makes in life is governed by their view of God, of His Book (I.e., the Bible), of Christ, of their fellow man (I.e., their neighbor), of marriage, of faithfulness to vows, etc.[2] consequently, whatever one believes in life, their environment, and influences will mold them into one of two totally different personalities. If a person believes in God that person will develop Biblical guided moral, ethical, and spiritual values (I.e., generally speaking – there are always exceptions to any given norm) but, on the other hand if one does not know about God or does not care to acquaint himself with God that person will develop qualities that are not like the person that does believe in God.[3] The person that cares not for God, regardless of their reasons will become problems in society, that person will not regard morals, ethics, and spirituality (I.e., based on God’s Word) of any value. In our lifetime, we have witnessed the results of a society in America that has turned from public acknowledgement of God, to attempts at eliminating the knowledge of God as a public policy. This philosophy, (I.e., the eliminating of God or any acknowledgement of God) is at the root of many problems in society today (Examples – increase in teen and pre-teen sex and sex orientations, increase in drug related crimes and consequence {drunken driving, suicides, etc}, infants being born with physical and mental handicap’s because of parental use of non-prescribed medications, abuse of their body, and alcoholic beverages, etc.). These by-products of Godless orientations are destroying those that practice them and are bringing secondary damages to those that are close to or involved with them in any way.
EVERYONE AFFECTS SOMEONE ELSE BY THEIR LIFE STYLE
We know that our actions, both public and private will affect someone else. Our actions will either benefit others (I.e., help others to achieve a better life) or our actions will corrupt others (I.e., make others worse off in their life and relationship with God). We must see this fact; no other description that one may find of personal action and reaction for displaying our lifestyle and allegiances in life.[4] No person can live for either the devil or for God and not affect other people by their decisions and their lifestyle (I.e., their choice). We cannot live life in an invisible state nor can we live life so that no one in the realm of our influence is affected. Indeed, I must, because of others, seek to find the best life that I can live so that I will benefit but also so that everyone in the realm of my influence will benefit from having interacted with me (Matt 5:13-16 {Christians Are Salt and Light} — > “13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. > 14 you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. > 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. > 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.“ (NKJV) In consequence of these facts it is apparent that the most productive and helpful life to others that one may live is a life of faithfulness to God.
COULD I REALLY HAVE THAT MUCH INFLUENCE WITH OTHERS
Yes, Example, Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.” God has revealed to the Christian that our ability to influence other people to do good things while we are serving him faithfully is evident in many places,
Please note the following references:
2 Timothy 1:5, “when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (NKJV).
2 Thessalonians 3:7-9, For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us” (NKJV).
1 Timothy 4:12, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity”
2 Peter 2:4-6 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly” (NKJV).
CONSIDER THIS:
Yes, we may have a great deal of influence on others if we will serve God correctly and live our lives openly as Christians. We may enjoy the greatest contentment and happiness in life because we serve God faithfully and are an encouragement and a good example for others that do not have God in their lives. We may also have an encouraging effect on those that are Christians and are going through difficult times in their life, simply by remaining faithful and living godly lives for them to imitate, as the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:15, “Therefore I urge you, imitate me” (NKJV) and in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (NKJV).