Missing Out

Let's play a game. You are about to see a few phrases. For each phrase, nod your head if you have heard it before. Shake your head if you haven't. Of course, since you're most likely reading this by yourself, you probably won't nod or shake your head. Oh well, let's move on to the game:

“You only live once!”

“Come do ______ with us. You don’t want to miss out!”

“Seize the day!”

“Live it up!”

“Make the most of every opportunity!”

After reading these quotes, you either: a) played the game and nodded your head five times, or most likely b) didn’t play the game and nodded your head zero times. In either case, 99.9% percent of you have heard all five of these phrases. Overused phrases and clichés like these litter our culture. Why?

For starters, they’re true! One of the few things we all agree on is that some day, we’re headed to a nice nap in the dirt. Or, to put it more bluntly: someday we’re all gonna be dead. After that it’s over. Done. Finito. We all only live once, so logically we should make the most of each day. We should take advantage of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. We should “live it up”! We could probably end this post right now and get something good out of it.

But ending it there would be really dangerous, so we won’t. Why dangerous? These phrases only give us half of the answer! They tell us that every day is precious, but they don’t tell us how to make them precious. They tell us to make the most of every opportunity, but they don’t tell us what a good opportunity is. They tell us to not miss out on X, but X may be worth missing for Y. Let’s clarify.

This may seem unrelated, but bear with me. Think of Christians you know. If we’re all honest here, a lot of times Christians can be really lame. They like to follow rules. They talk funny. They’ll spend time with their families instead of pushing their career farther. They go to Christianish events when they could be out partying. They try not to swear or ogle at attractive women or put down their friends. They look at things that could possibly give them pleasure or success or fun or thrills and say no. In other words, they seem to be going against the clichés that we discussed. Opportunities pass them by. Days are wasted. Christians are missing out.

Why would they choose such a lifestyle? Because they think they are better than everyone else? While it could be perceived that way, that isn’t the case. So what is the case? I forgot to mention another characteristic of the same lame Christians that we described. They don’t seem to miss the things they give up. While it looks like they are missing out, they go on as if they are happier. What is going on? To get some insight, let’s read the following parable from Jesus:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” Matthew 13:44

We’ll explain the parable in a second, but before that, imagine if we’ve completely misunderstood what it means to “live it up”. We think making the most of every opportunity means to jump at the first thrill we see and run with it, so we go out and get drunk or break a few laws or hook up with that guy or make fun of the ugly girl. What if we’ve got it completely backwards? What if trying not to miss out on life makes us really miss out on life? The parable explains this far better than I can.

First, we must know what the kingdom of heaven is. Put simply, it is God’s great, magnificent, and perfect plan. Involved in that plan is Jesus Christ. He is God on earth, put here to die for us so that we can re-enter community with the One True God. If we believe that He died for us and rose from the dead, we can enter the most Glorious Thing possible: everlasting life with our Creator. Life after our little dirt nap. Life as it was meant to be.

Jesus likened this eternal life to a treasure. Since He provided the way from death to life, He is the treasure. Now the man in the parable discovered this amazing fact. What did he do once he found the treasure? He sold everything he had to obtain it! What does this mean for us?

Christ is that treasure in the field. His value surpasses all things because He is the way to true life. Therefore, He is better than all the little thrills we can get by trying to “seize the day”. He is so Great that we should be willing to give up worldly pleasures to gain Him. “Living it up” now becomes living in Him. Making the most of every opportunity becomes making the most of His opportunity.

Yup, taking this to heart may involve becoming lame. But being lame is a good thing. In fact, it's not really lame at all. Once you follow Christ, you enter into a life where each day becomes what it was meant to be. You can finally see every opportunity as part of the most magnificent plan and purpose you could imagine. Sure, embracing Christ causes you to "miss out" on some things, but in the end you gain everything. Like the man in the parable, we could lose everything we have, but by losing those things we actually come out on top. So, I urge you to “seize Christ”. “Live in Him”. “Make the most of His opportunity”. After all, you only live once =D

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:7-8