The Most Important Things

It’s hard to truly fathom heaven and eternity. In fact, in hebrew, the definition of eternity is time outside of the mind. So, having said that how can finite beings truly comprehend the infinite? Only through the mind of the Spirit (the mind of Christ).

It’s very easy to get caught up in earthly thinking. You have bills to pay, circumstances to overcome, trials to walk through and offenses to forgive. Those are things that happen everyday, there’s no avoiding them. Yet, in the midst of this God has called us to not think like that. He has called us to “set our minds on things above and not on this earth” (col.3:2). He has told us that we should constantly be allowing the mind of Christ to invade our natural mind. Paul says in Phil. 3:19, “…their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they THINK ONLY ABOUT THIS LIFE HERE ON EARTH”(NLT).

What an excellent verse! It points out the current state of many christians! We think only about life here on earth. What are going to eat, what are we going to wear, where are we going to live; these are all valid questions yet Jesus has specifically instructed us to seek His kingdom first. Those are all finite, earthly things. Jesus’ kingdom is infinite and heavenly. It will last forever. That’s where our mind should be. That’s where we should be looking.

So why don’t we? I believe it boils down to one truth that has not been spoken on enough in recent years. The second coming of Jesus. Yea. For real. Because we don’t hear this doctrine being preached at all (in reality) a mindset has settled in. It is, “Jesus won’t come back in my lifetime”. No one on Earth can even make that claim. The bible most definitely contradicts claims like that. (See Phil. 4:5, James 4:13-17 for some of my favs) Because of a lack of teaching on this doctrine there is an enormous amount apathy in churches across the globe. Why should I witness? Jesus isn’t coming back for a long time. I can witness later. WRONG. Nobody, except the Father, knows the time. Therefore we should be witnesses. (Acts 1:8)

Take this as a healthy reminder, Jesus is coming back. We do not know how many days are left. Therefore set your mind on eternal things – salvation, discipleship, righteousness, etc. Not on things on the earth, for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (earthly things) it is righteousness, peace and joy (eternal things, that can be experienced on earth) in the Holy Ghost! Let a sense of urgency flow into your spirit right now.

I like twitter, theoretically. I like it’s short format and soundbite-esque quality. But I am continually on the fence, in regards to it’s usefulness. I follow a number of people. Some are consistently interesting and some are consistently lame (I usually drop those people). Here are a couple of my pet peeves about tweets: (don’t get mad at me, this is just my personal opinion)

1) Trying to create a christian movement on twitter. (Everyone hash tag WWJD!) Nobody’s gonna get saved by that.

2) Telling me about how your life is better than everyone elses. I am so happy for you. Are you asking me to be jealous about your life? I don’t really agree with that theology, neither does the bible coincidentally. If it’s a praise report I will be the first to celebrate with you. If it’s you just sounding off of your undying love to someone or something or idolizing your life… that’s just not very interesting.

3) Constant re-tweeting or quoting. I like quotes as much as the next guy, in fact, you’re probably just re-tweeting a quote I just posted.

4) Always talking about where you are going to eat. We get it you eat a lot. Maybe that’s why America is obese!

5) Christian cussers. Seriously, get some self-control over your mouth. No more “freaking”, “dang” or “crap”. Idle words are still going to be judged according to Jesus.

Those are just my top 5. And at one point or another I have been guilty of those as well. So, why would anyone use twitter at all? Well, I like things that actually ADD VALUE TO OTHERS. It’s not just a “this is what I am doing now” outlet. Is it something hilarious? Is it something really deep? Is it an image that is one of a kind? To me that adds value or at least a laugh. Now, I understand that some of the previous peeves may actually fall into the “add value” category. But always tweeting the same thing is boring. Who watches the same rerun all day long? That’s why I added the “to others” clause. Will this tweet really add value to others?

Of course, that brings up another question. How do YOU define “value”?

Style is a funny thing. I wrote, a couple blogs ago, about creating or buying style. But there’s more to both of those theories. For me, when it comes to style, FIT is king. If the clothes don’t fit, I won’t even bother looking at it no matter how “stylish” it is. To be in style, I think you should look good as opposed to looking trendy.

To understand fit, you must understand your body type. (Since I think anything can be broken down into sets of threes) Here are the three main body types I see in the world. (Note: this blog is not about what fit you are, so much as an observation. I don’t care what shape you are or are not.)

1) Hip to be Square. AKA the box cut. Most large box retailers (macy’s, jcpenny, etc) this is the cut that stocks their floor. It’s great for older people (men especially). When you hold up the shirt and it could fit over packing box, you know it’s a “box cut”. This is Tommy Bahamas bread and butter, drape this over your body and let the cool breezes flow!

2) I am in shape, round is a shape. The nice thing about the box cut is that it can fit over round people as well. You don’t need to have broad shoulders to wear the box cut. If you have sloping shoulders, it will drape just fine. Again, no shame what shape you are. I am just saying, if you are round or square; stay away from clothes that say, “modern fit” or “slim fit”. It just won’t make you look the best. And that’s what style is supposed to do, make you look your best. Not make you look “trendy”.

3) The elongated square. The rectangle is the shape a lot of younger clothiers tailor to. Think H&M, some GAP, etc. These are all companies that create for the rectangle shape. If you are not a skinny rail, shop with caution! If you fall into square or round, it will be harder to find clothes that will make you look good in those types of stores. (Note: i am not saying you can’t, just that it will be like a treasure hunt. Happy hunting!)

The next time you go shopping look for clothes that will make you look good. Not clothes that are trendy or the latest in style. Go for a combo, style and fit. I was at the beach and around town this past 4th of July weekend, too many people wearing clothes to small. And I am not just talking about beachwear. Don’t wear what the store tells you to wear! Wear what makes you look and feel good. If the clothes fit, wear it. Unless it’s really ugly!

According to my brain, there are three types of categories of people in the world. These categories are: people that create, people that buy and people that just don’t care.

Don’t believe me? Let me give you an example, fashion. Let’s apply the categories to this example. There are people who create fashion. They set trends, they set style and materials; they create fashion. There are people who buy fashion. They buy it for their stores or customers or themselves. Then there are the people who don’t care. They just put on whatever is in their (or somebody else’s closet). This all happens on the macro scale as well as a micro scale. On the macro scale, you actually have people creating what we wear. You have people buying stuff for us to buy (like GAP, JCrew, etc). And then you have people who don’t care.

This also happens on a micro scale. There are people who create style. They don’t necessarily buy the “best” (read: most expensive) brands. They don’t have to. They take what they have and what the world has to offer and create style. There are people who just go and buy style. They walk into Nordstroms, Neiman Marcus, wherever and purchase expensive, trendy outfits. (side note: this is an observation, not a judgment of anyone who does any of these) Lastly, you have the people who don’t care. They buy whatever keeps them covered, where whatever keeps them comfy and live life in an uncaring bliss. Make sense?

Now try in any other field. Say, media. People who create (original) media. People who buy it (from freelancers, studios, etc). People who don’t care about media, they have no TV, no internet, nothing. Anyway, what areas can you put those categories in? Let me know.