
Empty seats in first class!
For so long when I would walk by or see seats sitting empty in first or business class on a flight, I would inwardly think “I sure would like that seat!” or occasionally pass someone on my way to the cheap seats thinking they probably did something wrong to be able to sit there or they didn’t deserve it! Silly right! Or perhaps I’d just envy the fact that they were there and I wasn’t. Whatever it was, I can tell you for sure there we’re no feelings of prosperity and good will attached to them. They were thought processes based in the fear of loss. A thinking process that inhibits me from being truly happy for someone else’s good fortune and simply being thankful for what I do have.
I’m sure you recognize this isn’t just about a seat on an airplane, but can be about anything thing in your life that you want to have, but haven’t obtained yet. A simple, yet albeit impassable key you will have to employee is that of “gratitude” for others success and a joyous disposition about where you currently are. You must recognize that there is no shortage of good in this world. There simply can’t be, no matter what the news outlets portray or what leaders of nations project. I’d go as far to say that some people that come from my background even preach the great doom and gloom massage about end times. I, however have chosen to believe that there is plenty to go around for everyone and that things are going to get better, not worse, for the believer.
You do realize wealth was part of God’s original plan, right! Yeah, I know some will say, “Well barry you know things became messed up after the fall and will never be like they were!” I still say there is plenty and that the great fall of man, born in Adam, was reversed by the rise of a true man in Jesus! Reversed so much that He said we should experience Heaven on earth and that excess was part of His plan for us. I’m going to save some of the excess talk for another time. I know that word bothers some people when it comes to Christianity for some reason. If you do have issues with it, I challenge you to do a word study on “more abundant” in greek from John 10:10. Anyway, here’s the question! If theres enough to go around for everyone? If there truly is enough good to supply mankind, then why don’t more people enter into it?
Simple, they don’t believe it! They allow the circumstances and present state of affairs around them to dictate the life they will have instead of taking on the mindset that anything is possible. Didn’t Jesus say “with men it may be impossible but with God (my Father) all things are possible.” He said this with the intent of us actually believing it. He was weird about that, always expecting people to believe Him! But isn’t the reality that He backed up everything he said with actions and truth? Now while Jesus was never concerned about a first class seat on an airplane, He was of the mind that the humanity He was giving His life for, were worth much more than that and that they should live an abundant life (John 10:10). Ultimately I know the greatest gift is eternal life, but what about the here and now? I have news, you are already an eternal being, whether you have said yes to Jesus or not, you are in eternity now, because your spirit will never die.
Back to my point though, the here and now, which He paid such a high price to alter for our benefit: When we begin to entertain the thoughts He wants us to envision we will begin to see the good life he has planned for us, but we will never do that apart from hope and faith. Hope and faith that there is plenty and that He wants us to have more than enough. Why, you ask, because then we get to be Him to others. some people will never listen to a gospel message, but will only be influenced by a gospel lived. In one of Jesus first vocal announcements in Luke 4:18 He said “The Spirit of God is upon me because He has sent me to preach GOOD NEWS to the POOR.” Well, the good news for the poor is that they don’t have to be poor anymore. That is a process that starts with a belief system on the inside that will find it’s way outside!
In conclusion, you were born for First Class! Don’t allow the lie of religion keep you from your birthright of abundance. What we are capable of is never according to what God can do, but according to what we believe He can do!
Hope this helps!
Barry