Living with No Regrets

There are two moments in the Bible that stick out to me in a very unique and special way. I feel that these two verses will never cease to amaze me in their preciousness, seeming unattainability, excitement, and utter disregard for everything that our world shouts at us.

Matthew 13:44 - "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

Philippians 1:21 - "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

I've meditated and dwelled upon these two verses so much over the past year, and the word that comes to my mind over and over again is "freedom." Joy is freedom. Freedom from regret. Freedom of worries or burdens. Free to die and loose everything for the sake of Christ.

At first glance, these two verses might seem very off-putting to the reader. Jesus calls the reader to give up everthing he has for the kingdom. Then Paul goes on to call the reader to die for Jesus. Neither of these seem like very juicy proposals upon first glance. But the very extreme nature of them is was makes them so precious. Only something so precious as Jesus is worth living and dying for. The price that you are willing to pay to attain something reveals the worth and value of it.

Taking each verse seperately, let's look at Matthew 13:44 first. The first phrase of the doubter that comes into my head is "buyer's remorse" or "regret." How many expensive purchases can each of us recall that have ended in regret. How many useless electronics, or broken-down cars have we thrown money into only to think of 10 other places where that money would have been better spent.

But I don't think that's the case with the man in the field. I don't think he bought that field, got the treasure, and then saw another treasure in another field and then tried to go pawn off the first one. I think the glory and light of Jesus shone bright enough in this man's life that he was unable to see anything but the treasure he bought.

The thing that makes this parable so beautiful is the phrase, "in his joy." The man didn't ponder over the sale. He didn't try and negotiate the price. He went and joyfully sold all his possessions to get that treasure. He didn't painfully part with his belongings. He probably would have used them for kindling if he didn't need toe money. The sum of all his possessions added up to nothing in comparison to the worth of the treasure he had found.

Jesus frees us to give up everything we have, for his sake. He frees us to do that, not regretfully, but JOYFULLY! I think over and over in my mind about the missionaries who have gone to the hard places in the world to share the gospel. I think of the people who have given up amazing careers, loving families, great friends, and comfortable lives because they saw the treasure for what it truly is, and they knew that they couldn't keep that treasure all to themselves. And I can't help but think that those people have to be the most free and joyful people on the earth. What else would make them do such a crazy thing. Only this kind of joy can produce such a self-sacrificial life.

Looking at Philippians 1:21, Paul expands on this idea, taking it to its logical conclusion. If we continue on with the story of the man and the field with the treasure, how do we find his life 5 years later. If the man with the treasure has sold everthing he has, then the only thing he has left is the treasure. There is nothing else competing for his affections. He has no other purpose than the treasure. The treasure is the ends. Thus, the treasure is his life. Thus, the man MUST have said with Paul, "for me to live is Christ." It's all he had to live for at this point, and it's all he wanted or needed to live for.

This might sound weird at first, but let me explain. I truly do believe that these two verses are in favor of the phrase, "less is more." Now I don't mean that Christ is somehow less than all of the other things in the world. Nor do I mean to say that there aren't legitimate affection to be sought after, such as marriage, family, career, fellowship, etc... But I think in our culture we have mentality that "more is more." We always need the newest technology. We always need to keep up with the newest trends. Watch the latest movies, listen to the latest music, be hip to the newest lingo. There's a slavery and bondage in that lifestyle. But for the man who has Christ and nothing else is the one who is truely satisfied. Everyone else is merely searching for satisfaction, but Paul and the man the in the field are two men who have found it.

This less is more concept clearly applies to marriage. We would all agree that 1 wife is better than 10. Why is that? Because the search is over. The mere idea of many implies some sort of dis-satisfactiton in our lives. Kids display this idea very well. So many children find one toy, one teddy bear, one blanket, and it's all they need. They don't need any other toys except that one. They don't want any other toys except that one. You could show you all the coolest new things in the world, and they would still go back to that dirty old, torn up teddy bear with drool all over it. Satisfaction is single-minded, and stable. One toy...one husband or wife...one treasure...one Lord of my life!

Being single-minded is the only way to live a life with no regrets. The moment you get greedy and start to think that you need more, is the very moment that you begin to regret things. Now being single-minded, in the pursuit of the wrong thing can certainly lead to regrets. But Christ can not and will not disappoint you. He is the very spring from which all pleasures flow. Every pleasure in the world is meant to point us to Christ. Being focused on Christ is like focusing on the sun. If you look at any beam of light, and continue to follow it, it always leads back to the sun. In the same way, if you follow any joy that you find in this life, to it's ultimate conclusion and source, it always stems from Christ.

I don't want to live my life with regrets. I want to be like Paul and the man in the field. I want to joyfully live for Christ, being single-minded on a satisfaction that comes from the bread of life. I don't want to think of all of the "what could have beens..." I don't want to think 30 years from now, "what if I would have really trusted Christ with my future back when I had options..." I want to be free to give up everything for him. When I think of hell, the first word that comes to my mind is "regret." I can't help but feel that every moment of hell, one must feel deep bitter well of regret. I don't want my life to be characterized by that feeling.

But, painfully, the only way to not live with regret is to take some huge risks. While the man sold all he had out of joy, I don't think he was blind to the risks. I think he knew the reality of the risks, it's just that the reality of the treasure made the risks seem like nothing. Thus, we must fight to see Jesus. As John Piper says, we sin so much because we don't see him clearly. If we saw him now the way we are going to see him in heaven, all of our issues of sin would become very very small. All of our petty wants and desires would become very very insignificant.

The second painful reality is that we don't take risks usually, because we don't see him. We don't believe that he'll sustain or satisfy us. We don't believe that he'll really be enough for us. We don't trust him enough to provide the kind of joy we need to desperately to take those risks. We don't believe that the living water will never make us thirsty again.

I know it's a very clique thing now that John Piper has made a big deal out of it, but I've felt this way for a long time, that "I don't want to waste my life, I want my life to count." Now, before, as many of you can probably attest to, I had an improper idea of what an unwaisted life looked like. I used to think that I had to have an important career. I had to be "somebody." I had to be significant in the world. Then my father, particularly through his humble example of living for Christ in the daily activities, particularly in caring for our elderly neighbor who didn't know Christ, really crushed that idea for me, and it was at that moment that I made the film "Got a Light." I made that film for many reasons, but the older I get, the more answers I get from a film that left me with so many unanswered questions. And the thing I am convinced of now is that the unwaisted life is one that is poured out like a drink offering for others, out of pure joy that spring from the fount of Jesus Christ. And the results are none of our concern, that's the beauty of it. The scale doesn't matter either. God is in charge of those aspects, he merely asks us to be faithful where we are. Perhaps that in our neighborhoods where we've lived our whole lives, or maybe that means we need to take a plane to the other side of the world. The key word there is faithfulness.

So many people hear, "just stay faithful where you are," and they think, "phew, now I'm off the hook from taking any risks." I don't think that's true. We need to be faithful to the spirit's calling on our lives. Have we been resisting some yearning from the spirit that has been on our hearts for years because we're scared to give some things up? I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here.

I'll end things here. I'll leave you with a phrase that was on a plaque in John Piper's house growing up. I won't say anything about it, just think about it and see what it means for you.

"Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last"