{"id":704,"date":"2010-08-31T09:04:07","date_gmt":"2010-08-31T09:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2010\/08\/does-your-life-demand-explanation.html"},"modified":"2010-08-31T09:04:07","modified_gmt":"2010-08-31T09:04:07","slug":"does-your-life-demand-explanation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/08\/does-your-life-demand-explanation.html","title":{"rendered":"Does your life demand explanation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every one of us possess the desire to be unique, and to become more than we are today.<\/p>\n

In God’s kingdom, we sacrifice those selfish desires for God’s glory. Entering the kingdom and accepting the calling that God has placed in our hearts is transformative.  Like Mother Teresa, you may find yourself caring for the sick and dying.  Your calling fulfills a deep and holy desire that transcends your flesh. <\/p>\n

We attempt to control that calling by reading self-help books, wrestling through ten steps to success, or reciting mantras that promise to help us transcend the mundane of the everyday to embrace an extraordinary new reality. <\/p>\n

But Jesus has another plan. <\/p>\n

If there was a “God-Help” section in the bookstore, it would be filled with books with titles like:<\/p>\n

10 Ways to Die to Yourself<\/i>
Embracing Daily Sacrifice<\/i>
Dying to Live: The only way up is down.<\/i>
<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To live a life that makes a difference–a life well lived–we have to literally sacrifice our self-centered conceptions of what makes us important, loved, and relevant. <\/p>\n

Making a difference that echoes in eternity may look foolish to everyone else in your life. <\/b><\/p>\n

It may mean leaving a job that pays good money, selling a status symbol, adopting a child or any number of things that will make the world scratch its head and demand you have yours checked.<\/p>\n

As Francis Chan shared an excellent sermon on contentment, we have to live a life that “demands explanation.”  <\/b>[To get Francis’ sermon, go to Cornerstone Church<\/a><\/b>, click “GET A SERMON” and scroll to the message on 05\/31\/09 called “What do you need in order to be happy?<\/i>“]<\/p>\n

Soon I am going to launch a series called “10 Questions” where I will interview people who live lives that demand an explanation. <\/p>\n

Do you live a life where people say, “I don’t understand that? Can you explain it to me?” Do you know someone who does?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every one of us possess the desire to be unique, and to become more than we are today. In God’s kingdom, we sacrifice those selfish desires for God’s glory. Entering the kingdom and accepting the calling that God has placed in our hearts is transformative.  Like Mother Teresa, you may find yourself caring for the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kingdom-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes your life demand explanation? - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/08\/does-your-life-demand-explanation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does your life demand explanation? - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every one of us possess the desire to be unique, and to become more than we are today. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}