being good people

I'm starting to believe that God intended us to be good people.. not good Christians.

I always had this perception that you needed to be a good Christian.

What does that pertain?

Well, my friends, being a good Christian means dotting your I's and crossing your T's in study of the Bible and making sure NOT to ever break any rules. It arbitrary. You do it because God told you to.

But being a good Christian, in that case can make you a worthless... no good for nothing person.

Seriously, self flagellation and self hatred?

Denying yourself?

That is one possible extreme.

Judging others and forcing them into your paradigm another.

Naivety about how the world works and how it interacts.

The more experience I have gain about the world and the more that I have lived in the world and been ambitious and excited about excelling, the more I realize that I would rather be a good person than a good Christian any day.

Success, I know now, is pinned on: A. relationships, and deep ones. Shallow, uncaring, unconcerned relationships are useless in my opinion, and all deep relationships are based on trust and honesty.

I'm not talking about telling the truth and fessing up to being the one who "chopped down the cherry tree"

I'm talking about representing to others.. the world.. who you really are. Being genuine.

Being genuine is so valuable.

AND B. hard work. reliable work. trustworthy work..

Being empowered and proud to be who you are.. is so powerful. Because others know what you stand for.. that they can rely on you. That you can be trusted 100%. Personally and professionally. They don't have to see the future because they know what you are going to make happen for them.

This allows you to be successful. To make things happen.. to open doors.

Being that person though is hard.

You can't do it for you.

You can't do it for them.

I have found you have to do it for something bigger.

Maybe its the principle of the matter.

Maybe its to make something bigger than yourself.

This is where I feel like Christianity fits.

We already have something bigger to serve. To force us to be better.. to be AMAZING people. To stand out from the crowd. Because we are doing these great human and tangible things for something way bigger. Its beyond us.

That doesn't mean that we have go out and be missionaries better and help people better. That might not be our gift.

That means that we do anything and everything we are talented at, at the top of our game.

We put fillings in teeth better.

We strive to fly planes better.

We make a better cellphone.

We build stronger relationships.

We want to take care of our bodies better.

We want to be the best grocery bagger ever!!

We want to make films better.Because we know we can be that better. We know it is in us to be gloriously amazing. We know because we know God gave us that potential.

It not about being righteous.. it is about being an AMAZING citizen of the world. The best example of human being that we can be and to keep trying to attain that everyday.. in everything we do.

Its not about whether or not we are doing things we should..

Its not about fulfilling other's expectations.. and falling in line.

Stoping our fooling around and being responsible.

It about being AWESOME, for ourselves. Being responsible because we can create and be SO much. Because we can have true happiness if we let go of getting high on skating through hard stuff.

We make life happen for us.

Sorry. I have found that happiness does NOT just happen. We have to grab it by the scruff of the neck, we have to force it into existence.. like every good thing that is created in life.

..

It doesn't mean Christians always do it better.

But what better motivation is there than to do it for a creator? Something so amazing and so powerful.

I'm not even sure where I stand with God. But I do want that.

It seems smart.

It seems punk rock.

And of all the amazingness I strive for its so much easier to suffer the hard lessons of life to know that you will be a better person for it.

That you can keep your eye on the bottom line: What our God-given ideal is,

and then strive for that.

What could be a more admirable goal?