We love sharing what followers of Jesus are learning about the most full life. Today we have a guest post from Supriya Sajja, a student intern at Grace Church in Snellville, Georgia.

What does it mean to truly live a full life? I thought I understood this concept, considering it much like the YOLO phrase – “You Only Live Once.” My thinking was that I should take every single opportunity to do as many different things as possible.

“When will I ever have the opportunity to do these things, with this person, at this exact moment?  Never again.”  I thought experiencing all God had to offer meant always being occupied. As long as I read my Bible, then I could just spend the rest of my day staying busy. Continue Reading…

I often heard that once a father I would understand God’s heart for his people on a whole new level.  That is true.  However, what I didn’t hear as much is how many things that my child would (unintentionally) teach me about living a life of Christian faith.  Here are 2 examples…

1. Ask “WHY” a lot

Kids question everything because they are hungry to understand WHY people do the things they do.

Too many Christians live with too small a vision for WHY they do the things they do.  This is sad because the Bible provides vision for WHY everything matters and WHY we should engage in the world today.

I once heard a man say “Those who know HOW will always follow those who know WHY.” If you’re like me, this line caused you to make some kind of audible noise in agreement. Christians (should) have the most compelling answers for WHY, and naturally  lead the way for those who know HOW.

We must never get so caught in the practicality of life that we fail to be compelled by underlying Christian vision.  God gives meaning to every area of life and provides real purpose for why we get up in the morning.  Are you driven by it?

2. Use Your Imagination

Kids entertain themselves for hours simply by imagining a different world. I love to watch my daughter in these moments, and it’s a blast to enter that imaginary place with her.

The use of imagination was never meant to stop after childhood, but oftentimes “growing up” means quitting all the pretending and getting serious about life.

Christianity calls for people to imagine how life could be different if touched by the redeeming power of Jesus.  We don’t just look forward to a New Heaven and New Earth one day in the future.  Rather, the future hope of completely restored life floods our imaginations for how redemption breaks into the present world NOW.

“What does redemption look like in ________?”  It’s not just a nice mental exercise, but the precursor, the imaginative work, that drives our action in the world.

Let us clear out the cobwebs of our imaginations and dream again, like kids do so well. And let us continue to ask WHY, searching for those answers in God’s story of redemption. Perhaps this is partly what it means to live with child-like faith.

Vision + Imagination + Action = #LiveFully

What else have you learned from kids?

Philippians 4:8 “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Paul commands the Christians in Philippi to think about things that are beautiful, good, and true.  For those of you philosophy people, you may be drawn to consider another person in history who called attention to those qualities. Plato considered these three things – the True, Good, and the Beautiful to be the “universals,” and he held that in order to live a holistic, mature life they must exist together in a harmonious way.

Eugene Petersen, author of The Message, describes the way in which the church has fallen short of embracing all three.  In regards to Christians, he states “we are vigorous in contending for the True, thinking rightly about God.  We are energetic in insisting on the Good, behaving rightly before God.  But Beauty, the forms by which the True and the Good take shape in human life, we pretty much ignore.” Continue Reading…

In life we begin as infants, physically and emotionally, then children, adolescents, and eventually adults. There is a maturity, physically and emotionally, that should happen along the way.

The Bible uses the same language to describe the process of spiritual maturity.  When a person lifts their hands of faith to receive God’s forgiveness and freedom, they are born a spiritual baby.  Yet, there should be continual maturing, all the way to spiritual adulthood.

A few years ago, I sat under the teaching of author/speaker Walt Mueller, and he offered three different “phases” of parenting.  Here they are:

1) Think “for” your child

2) Think “with” your adolescent

3) Let them think “for themselves” Continue Reading…

It is one week after the horrendous shooting in Aurora, Colorado.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know a twenty-four year old man unloaded on innocent movie-goers during the premier of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.  He shot and killed twelve and injured 59.

The last thing I want is to appear insensitive to those most deeply affected by this tragedy.  I cannot imagine the pain and grief, and this post is not meant to imply that anyone should fast forward through that grieving process.

In the wake of tragedy the most raw human emotions and thoughts push to the surface.  We also questions life and all we typically take for granted.  This “Batman shooting” is no different, and here are 3 things it reveals:

1) There is real evil in the world – after something like Aurora, it seems ridiculously obvious to state this, but the most “sophisticated” voices in culture today do not share this belief.  To make a moral judgment is to claim some kind of “universal truth” and this does not exist.

People say “What’s wrong for me might not be wrong for him” –  yet no one thinks this way when faced with events like Aurora.  There is no debate, this act of violence was evil, and deep down we all know it. Continue Reading…

For many Christians and non-Christians alike, the “Good News” of the Bible is a message of individual people receiving forgiveness and the promise of eternal life through faith in Jesus.  Certainly that’s a part of it, but check out how biblical writer Paul describes the Good News…

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20)

Paul casts a vision for a reconciliation of everything, with both the physical and spiritual realms brought together in unity through the blood of Jesus.  This is nothing short of a cosmic redemption. Continue Reading…