Christianity is a lifestyle of self-denial and discipline: one of total surrender and obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Some view this as a constraining, boring, and old fashioned way of life. But we only have one life to live. We can seek to find our own way of life, or we can give our life back to God and discover true abundance.

“Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all His benefits”  — Psalm 103:2

These words were spoken by King David of Israel. He knew God and followed after the heart of God. He was a frail, flawed human like all of us, but because he kept God first on the throne of his heart, he experienced a life full of God’s presence and intervention. I would like to mention several of the benefits of living the Christian life in an effort to persuade some and challenge others:

God gives me lasting peace in a tumultuous world. It guards my heart and mind from fear, worry and anxiety. It is not fragile and fleeting, but beyond my understanding and stronger than life’s storms and uncertainties. He gives rest for the weary soul.

His joy is my strength – not just physical strength, but the part of me which will outlast this aging body. Jesus delivers from depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. He renews my mind, which can be so easily polluted with all the things I see and hear. He gives a sound mind that is not tormented with suicidal thoughts.

God gives wonderful counsel free of charge in His Word. When I apply it to my life, the result is that I live a more abundant life. I have great help in my relationships, such as marriage, children, parents, co-workers, friends, and yes, even enemies. That’s what life is really made up of – relationships – and having a personal one with Jesus makes all earthly ones even better. His office is always open, and He is never on vacation.

Jesus is ready, willing, and able to give all types of healing – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I don’t need a psychic, medium, or holistic therapist to overcharge me for their services. I can activate my God-given faith and access His healing power.

God has knowledge of and provides for all of my needs. He supplies them from His great resources and riches. Most of the time I am unaware of how He is constantly doing this, and often I have to trade my worries in for a whole-hearted trust in Him.

I choose to indulge in good, clean fun. There may be many other self-indulging options available that offer unrestrained but temporary pleasures, but God lets me choose – and when I choose, I also live with the consequences. Consequently, I’ve chosen to live a life free of regrets, guilt, hurt relationships, or punishment. When I also confess and turn from wickedness, I will be given an escape from God’s judgment against sin.

I experience pure love from its very source, which is God. Love that never fails and is so deep, so wide, and so forgiving that it’s difficult to understand, because there is nothing like it anywhere else in life. I know God as my heavenly father, which makes me one of His sons. Even if your father was abusive, neglectful or absent from the home, God is a kind and everlasting Father whose family is always growing because He keeps adopting more children.

Jesus has empowered me to live a lifestyle free from self-destructive addictions like smoking, alcohol, drugs, pornography, gossip, and complaining. I reap the benefits of a moral lifestyle with no regrets. God has cleaned the proverbial skeletons out of the closet of my life. And when new ones die and want to make their grave in my heart, Jesus comes with resurrection power over past hurts, pain, guilt, and shame.

There are many more examples, but perhaps this sampling will give you an idea of why I am convinced that being a Christian, not just claiming the title, is the best life possible!

This is where I struggle. At youth camp this year the minister, Bro. Soto, preached about being a thermostat or a thermometer. You see, thermostats set the temperature. But thermometers only read and react to the temperature. Do you determine your attitude, or do your circumstances and emotions? A bad attitude is like a virus which slowly creeps in, spreading as it goes. If it is left unchecked it can wipe out an entire system. A bad attitude will slowly poison a person’s life, till every area is contaminated. Their every perspective will reek of negativity and complaint. Negativity stinks.

But even Jesus had to keep His attitude in check. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus didn’t feel like obeying the will of the Father. But disregarded His feelings and His opinion and said, “Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.” I believe it is God’s will for us to genuinely be happy. Not merely to think happy thoughts, but to have the joy of the Lord in our life. However, our flesh does not always want to be happy. Then you must choose to count your blessings, choose to be thankful, and choose to praise God until His presence brings joy to your situation. You’ll be glad you did.

When you enter a setting such as the work place or even your home, it is easy to pick up or sense the attitude that has been set by those who are there before you. If your co-workers are discouraged or upset, it is easy to let your attitude slowly begin drifting toward theirs. Maybe at first you merely want to be compassionate and understanding, taking time to listen to their problems and frustrations. But listening to people complain, hour after hour, day after day, can begin to wear on you. It is important to decide at the moment you realize this is happening that you will be a thermostat.

You can decide your attitude; you are not bound by your emotions or your circumstance. Determine to set the atmosphere at your work, home and church. Sometimes you must be the change you want to see. If you are tired of people taking you for granted, then make sure you go out of your way to be thankful for those around you. Create the culture you in which you want to live.

So often I wait to worship God until I feel that I have a good reason to. Somehow I feel like I can’t worship Him until He blesses me in some way above and beyond the ordinary.  I sit there with less-than-enthusiastic worship until He touches me. The missing realization in my attitude is that the very fact that I am allowed to be in the presence of the Almighty should put me in awe. By simply being who He is, God gives me reason to praise Him.

As I tried to worship, I realized I was thinking about the problems in my life — focusing on myself instead of on God. How could I worship God and still be focused on myself? I purposed in my mind that I would focus completely upon God, making Him first in my mind. For that moment, I even allowed myself to forget about all of the complications in my life. Things I couldn’t control were stealing the joy from my worship, and I had been letting them do this by paying so much attention to them. These distractions take the hope out of life that comes from keeping my eyes on the Creator.

Soon after taking the time to refocus on God and allowing all the problems to melt away, God brought a familiar Bible verse to mind. The verse is Psalms 100:4, which says to “enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.” Too often I come into God’s presence weighted down by the cares of life, forgetting to come into His courts with thanksgiving and praise. Too often I forget the joy of His salvation and must work my way back to it. It’s a joy to serve God – but it’s easy to lose sight of that.

Another thing to remember is that God is good no matter what. God is deserving of my praise, and that’s why I can have joy. I can have hope in the God of my salvation. I can forget all my problems for the moment and throw myself into worshipping Him. It may seem irresponsible to some, but it’s a powerful and liberating concept. My prayer is that all who read this article will find the freedom and joy in realizing that no matter what your circumstances, God is worthy to be praised.

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.”  – Albert Einstein (attributed)

Credit cards are great, aren’t they? Like checks, credit cards allow us to purchase goods and services without carrying wads of cash around. And while you can run out of checks in your check book, a credit card can be used over and over again. When used correctly, a credit card can be a useful financial tool. But since it’s so easy to use, most people go overboard. Maybe it’s because we don’t have the same feedback: the cash runs out; the running balance reaches zero; we know when there’s no more to spend with older tools. But the thing about credit is that you can get so much of it… probably more than you should ever be spending. (Teenagers, take note!)

So we overspend, and then the monthly bill arrives. The amount due is far in excess of what we thought it would be. It’s distressing just to think about paying the full amount, much less transfer the money! Ah, but there’s a nicer number: a ‘minimum payment’. Somehow the minimum on a $700 credit card bill is within striking distance of the minimum for a $70 bill.

“Scientists have developed a powerful new weapon that destroys people but leaves buildings standing – it’s called the 17% interest rate.”  – Johnny Carson

We like the minimum. It’s not as scary. The balance in our bank account is greater when we only pay the minimum – but then, the same applies to our debt level with the credit card company. See, paying the minimum means you still owe your creditors a lot of money, for which they will charge you a lot of interest. Maybe the minimum looks ‘nice,’ but you’re better off paying the full amount even if it’s painful for a little while.

But this isn’t an article about personal finance; it’s an article about your life. You and I tend to look at everything from the perspective of the minimum amount of effort we need to muster up. How much time do I have to put in to get a promotion? What’s the lowest-price cruise trip I can find? How many dojo sessions do I need to get a black belt? How many days can I wear my underwear so that I can avoid going to the dorm laundry? We approach everything from the low end.

This approach does not work with the spiritual life. We were designed to be “all in” for God. He expects a certain level of commitment from each of us. Think of that level as the amount due. He is King; He can set the amount as He pleases. However, God loves us regardless of whether we meet that expectation. Sometimes we convince ourselves that there’s a minimum – a place where we stay kind of close to God, but our ‘commitment’ doesn’t interfere too much with “real life.”

Don’t be fooled. If you want real life – the vibrant, full, adventurous life that Jesus promises in scripture – you won’t get there by putting in the minimum effort. In fact, like our credit card example, you’ll really be falling further and further behind. There’s a life waiting for you, but if you aren’t willing to make the commitment today, well, you won’t experience it today. Every day that I pay the minimum, I miss out on another day of the better life God has waiting. My prayer today is that we won’t get stuck in the mundane, physical distractions of life… because we only met the minimum.

When I look at David’s story, I see a life full of ups and downs.  A giant slayer turns into a javelin dodger.  A killer of 200 Philistines turns to a groveling mad man.  Yet through the ups and downs there is an interesting pattern in David’s early life.  David was summoned from herding sheep by Samuel to be anointed future king.  Apparently David goes back to shepherding after that. The next time we hear about him, he is again “with the sheep.” This time he is called to soothe Saul’s spirit through his music.  Despite these two incredible experiences, David kept on shepherding his life away.  Then for the third time the Bible says he “left the sheep.” This time he is off to bring parched corn and other goodies to his brothers.  The man has the anointing of a king and is still herding sheep.  David was fulfilling his Right Now Calling.

Multiple times throughout my childhood people prophesied that God would use me at a “young and tender age.”  I do believe that, in some ways, these have been fulfilled.    But over the years I have had many wrong concepts about how, when, and why. Today I have fewer answers than ever.  But this excites me, because I am no longer limiting God to my finite plans.  As I continued to grow physically and spiritually, I wondered why it seemed that God wasn’t doing anything special with my life.  Doubts and fears raged like a western wildfire.  I now realize that God was maturing me spiritually; He was teaching and strengthening me in ways vital to my existence.  God is teaching me to chase lions so that one day I will laugh at giants.  It was, and still is, a process.  But not everything is merely preparation for a future event.  I have a Right Now Calling.

My Right Now Calling is simply this: To seek His face.  It is a slight, yet radical attitude change.  God has confirmed this to me over and over again.  No matter what happens I know who I am and what I am supposed to be doing: seeking His face.  It’s a Right Now Calling.  David said, “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face” (Ps 24:6).  Late one Saturday night, lying in my bed, God used that scripture to reconfirm my Right Now Calling:  To be the generation that seeks Him.  Not “please let us be that generation” or “maybe some day we will rise to that status.”  Rather, “This is.”  It’s a radical change of attitude.  Interestingly, the next morning, the scripture reader read that Psalm.

I believe that you, too, have a Right Now Calling.  It may be a universal calling, like praying or witnessing.  But this is the bottom line:  it’s not something you will do tomorrow, but something you can do before you go to sleep tonight.  I believe everyone has a calling to fulfill today.  It’s your Right Now Calling.