I have a tendency of always wanting to simplify things. A love a simple, intentional and relevant life.
I sometimes dream of a day when I can "Google" for my "lost" socks in the house. (Yeah, crazy, right?) Or a day when I can send my bae a great TV Show I just met in minutes via some network at a cheap cost...
Can you now hear me?
I'm crazy about a simple, hustle-free life.
My phone's launcher has got to have gestures, shortcuts and beauty. If not, I'm gonna ditch it sooner than that Android Central recommendation can even blink. I want someone to go to school on my behalf (yeah, that's lazy, but it's a way of simplifying life); my remotes have to be at an arm's length from where I am etc etc.
So, if in that spirit of making life simpler and better, here are a few life principles I love and with various Bible examples to help:
1. Life is not THAT serious, so have some fun. Not too much useless fun though, but have good fun. Not wicked, evil fun but good, righteous fun. (Oh my goodness, so there is righteous fun?)
Too much of one thing is poisonous. Go out sometime. Take your bae out. Watch some movies or TV Show. Have some goofy time somewhere.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 (NLT) says, "So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that this pleasure is from the hand of God."
2. Don't judge yourself too highly nor too lowly.
Feeling too important raises a tendency of autonomy, self-righteousness and pride. You will end up thinking you are a god. You are not.
Feeling less important about yourself brings about low self-esteem, depression and self neglect. You'll get old and die really fast. See?
Romans 12:3 (NIV) says, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."
3. Don't hold grudges. They'll kill you. Forgive people. Move on.
Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV) says, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
4. Release your anger, frustrations and emotions by talking about them to a person you trust and with God. The more learn to do this, the better.
Job in The Book of Job is a good example of someone who decided to release his frustration by talking about it with friends and with God. Though his friends turned out to be fake, it still helped.
5. Learn to deal with people and to treat them with a little benefit of doubt.
Jude 1:22-23 (NIV) says, "Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear - hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."
6. Don't post your frustrations on Social Media. Nobody cares. In fact, we're all going to laugh at you for doing so.
Ever read this? »»
Proverbs 14:10 (NIV) "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy." Good. Now youce read it.
7. Live one day at a time and don't procrastinate the simple stuff.
Matthew 6:34 (NIV) says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Proverbs 6:4 (NLT) says "Don't put it off. Do it now! Don't rest until you do."
8. Talk to God often. Talk to people often. You weren't created to be an island.
Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12 (NIV) says, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work... Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
9. Always pause in life and reflect.
There's always that season in life when we think that we are right and that we know everything. We are not and we we don't know everything. Not always, really.
1 Corinthians 8:2-3 (NLT) says, "Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one God knows and cares for."
10. Love your family (whether you're married or not.)
In Genesis 45:9-11 (NET), after Joseph was made the Prime Minister of Egypt, he instructed his brothers who had previously sold into slavery, "Now go up to my father quickly and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: 'God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay! You will live in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me – you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everything you have. I will provide you with food there because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise you would become poor – you, your household, and everyone who belongs to you.'"
Paul the apostle also says, "But if someone does not provide for his own,especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Timothy 5:8, NET)
11. Serve God. Serve people.
Only in these is true satisfaction found.
Mark 10:44-45 (NET) says, "...and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
12. Work hard. Be creative. Don't waste anything that God gave you. If you can imagine a thing, know that it is absolutely possible. So go for it. Make money too but don't overindulge in it.
Proverbs 22:29 (NIV) "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men."
Proverbs 14:23 (NIV) "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."
13. Make friends. Good friends, bad friends and all kinds of friends. Talk to them often. (Both types of friends are meant to make us balanced and to view life a wide range of perspective). But don't forsake your good old friends for fake new ones.
Proverbs 18:1 (NIV) "An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment."
Proverbs 17:17 (NIV) "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."
Proverbs 12:26 (NIV) "A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."
14. Take care of yourself. Don't limit yourself. But don't compete or negatively compare yourself with others.
Galatians 6:4 (NLT) says, "Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else."
15. Expect less from men, and a lot from God.
Jeremiah 17:5 (MSG) says, "God's Message: 'Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight.'"
16. Be inquisitive. Ask questions when you're lost. Be curious about how stuff works and why things happen the way they do.
Ecclesiastes 1:13-14 (NIV) says, "I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind."
17. Follow sensible people whom you admire and that can shape your life positively. But, again, don't worship them. That kind of fanaticism ain't good for anybody.
1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV) "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."
18. Learn some few things about self discipline and self control. Practice them. It will help you a lot.
Learn to control your anger, your pain, your emotions and feelings, what you listen to and watch, how much you eat, how much you relate with people.
It is said boundaries are meant to keep the dog in the compound and the cat in the house...
1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (NIV) says, "So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet."
19. Love God. Love People.
But without compromising. One article I read this week reiterated that "Truth without love has no decency; it’s just
brutality. And love without truth has no character; it’s just
hypocrisy. You can read it
here.
Matthew 22:37 (NIV) says, "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'"
Matthew 7:12 (NIV) says, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
20. Strive to learn something new everyday; even from the oddest places, occasions and people.
Don't limit your knowledge to what your pastor, your teacher/lecturer, your leader or your parent tells you. Explore. Find out more about something. Make your opinion on something count. Be able to teach someone something new. That's what life is all about.
Proverbs 19:27 (NLT) »» "If you stop listening to instruction, my child, you have turned your back on knowledge."
21. Be passionate about something. Have something that makes you think; something that drives you into a crazy feat of creativity. Something that activates that part of you that nobody knows about but they're all liking the product that comes out.
2 Corinthians 9:2 (KJV) says, "For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many."
You know what? I'm done.
Bonface Morris.
