Are You a Life Giver or a Life Taker?
Understanding Life Givers and Life Takers
Because I believe that Jesus took care of sin, death, hell, and Satan once and for all, having had the complete victory of everything that resulted in our being alienated from God due to the fall, I am also convinced that the world has spiritually (remember, spiritually) returned to the place of Adam and Eve in the garden, where all of us freely choose to follow and serve God or… ourselves.
I also believe that as a result, our lives, when judged at the end of the day, can possibly be sized up as our being either (drumroll please) “Life Takers” or “Life Givers.” I base this on the fact that Our Lord and King was the ultimate representative of being a life giver – in a number of ways:
First, He gave his life of desires up for a life of sanctified holiness. He gave His time to reach, teach, and serve others. He gave of His holiness by imparting it to others (like the woman with the issue of blood). He gave up His will to the will of His Father. And of course, He gave His actual life up on the cross and that means he gave the world life as a result, and more especially, he gave all who look to Him in faith eternal life, which is the ultimate form of living. To me, and in some form or another, all of us will be assessed by whether we were givers of life or takers of life, when everything is said and done.
The Aftermath of Sin
Another way to describe takers of life is to describe the fallout or results of sin. God is life and therefore whatever is not of God is not of “real living,” and therefore might be categorized as sin. Think about it – To gossip is to take life because the one being gossiped about has to use part of their life to correct the lie. The things we steal take life because the owner has spent their life’s time obtaining whatever is taken – and has to use more of their life to replace it!
When we harm other people’s feelings it takes them life – sometimes a lifetime – to overcome the damage, and of course, anytime we physically abuse someone, or take a life, or commit adultery against them and their family, we have robbed them of what God has freely bestowed upon them as his creation. To be a life taker is in some ways to also be a light taker, a peace-taker, a hope taker, and a love taker. We can do so much harm that we might even cause others to become depressed, broken, even mentally ill, or suicidal. Those are the works of a life-taker.
But that is not you who follow the giver of life, is it? True Christians are Life-Givers and Life Savers. As we who follow in the footsteps of our King offer ourselves up for the betterment of those around us.
The Christian Perspective on Life Giving
Some people focus on making the material lives of others easier and they accomplish this in a hundred different ways. Some people provide jobs for others. Some take time to listen to the heartaches of the lost and broken, some feed the hungry masses, and some provide them housing, comfort, and warmth. We have medical doctors that relieve pain and cure disease, dentists that fix decaying teeth, teachers who enlighten the minds of students with valuable information, and responsible parents who give their lives for their children.
All life-giving. All good. All of God. But if we were to look at life-giving on a spectrum, a Christian spectrum, while we must admit that sustaining and supporting the physical well-being of others is important, the greatest life we can give to others is when we contribute to their eternal lives. We can say this because this life, as Jesus made clear, is but a vapor on glass. But the life hereafter is forever – therefore to contribute to that life, to give that life and to support, encourage, and focus on giving that life to others, is the greatest life-giving act we can perform.
The scripture is plain that God is love. And that God is light. And that God is life. To be a life-taker is to be indulgent in self-love. To snuff out the light that warms, to take life. To be a life giver and a life saver is to bestow the light that…
Understanding Choices
Warms, which is Him, in and through His love – which is selfless, and unconditional, forgiving, patient, kind, merciful.
I suggest that a person can NEVER go wrong in life when they make the choice to be a life-giver – in some way or another. I suggest that a person could not be more wrong in the way they live their lives when they choose to be a life-taker.
Relationship with God
God has fixed the impediments to our separation from Him. He offers His Son for those who want relationship with Him now and in the hereafter, but now all souls – believers and not – make the constant decision of whether they will be Givers of Life – or Takers.
