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The self-help industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Books, videos, podcasts, life coaches all claiming to teach you how to live and make your life better. I know that if you are like me, you have heard people complain about their lives. I hear complaints about how complex life is and how it would be easier if we only had an instruction manual, something that would just tell me what to do. We look for guidance, someone we can look up to, who we see as successful or a person who just seems happy. I know that people try their best to live a life that they think makes them happy, a life they think can fulfill them. However, most people do not even know what a truly happy life would even look like.
We need an example, someone that has the answers, and can show us how to live a truly happy and fulfilled life. The world is groping in the dark seeking something, anything, that can help them navigate through this dark terrifying world. The problem is that they do not even know what they need. “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2)
The Bible teaches us that our model, our guide, is God. Jesus came to Earth to walk among us and be the example we can follow. Choosing to live by the teaching of the bible often goes against what we see the world thinks we should be pursuing. The bible calls us to be like God. The bible calls us to change our lives. “For you were once dark-ness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8-10). To live a life that God calls us to, will lead to a joyful and fulfilled life that the world really cannot offer. When we see the importance of teaching others about God we will be more effective workers for the kingdom. The world needs what we know, they need to know the answers that God supplies to His people through His word. They need to follow God’s example.
Brad Tolbert
Monticello church of Christ
Monticello, AR