Being a self-made man, building a nice career, and earning a lot of money is a deceptive path that once on, is nearly impossible to depart.  This world is designed to captivate you with something far from God’s grandest intentions.  The offer is life and freedom and yet we unwittingly step into cages and latch the door behind us.  And the generations behind us, like this young man, buy into a lie that the Church (we) haven’t done a good enough job shouting over.

If we are going to be the good Kings of the Kingdom that lead our businesses, families, and organizations well, we are going to have to do a better job of telling a compelling story.  Ironically, the story we have to tell is written on the heart of every human being and it is the one they are all desperate to hear.

The difference between living fully alive and simply managing your sin until eternity is the difference between life and death.  We read amazing stories from the Bible and hear incredible contemporaneous tales about those who change the world in unique and inspiring ways.  For most of us, we view those stories as exceptions to the rule and see our lives as more pedestrian, simple, and of no consequence.

There seems to be a great swelling tide of purpose.  As Uncle Oswald (Chambers) says, “Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open.”  The reason that it seems so prevalent, so ubiquitous in virtually every corner of society, should not surprise us.  We were all uniquely created for it and collectively, we are called to the same.

We’ve lost one of the great treasures of the Kingdom.  God meant something when He meant each one of us.  The unique gifting, ability, and perspective of each one of us, dramatically shaped by the stories we’ve lived and hopefully the redemption we have found, has become minimized and obscured.

There is a life intended for each of us that is far beyond what many of us have hoped or dreamed.  It is at the very core of Jesus' mission… to heal, restore, and set free… that we may have that life and have it to the full.  It probably won’t surprise you that we have an enemy set against that life.

Avid surfer Nicholas Woodman said that he and his friends used to dream of “Going Pro” so that there would be some footage of them surfing.  He figured a wearable camera was something that they might find of value.  With a few hundred thousand in borrowed money, he launched GoPro and within 10 short years was America’s newest young billionaire.  The videos recorded by GoPro and their millions of fans have become legendary with a recent product launch video for their Hero 3+ camera racking up 33 million views.  In our voyeuristic society, watching others find life is equated to finding it yourself.

There is a life intended beyond the one we know and finding that is more assaulted than anything else I’ve ever known.  You could almost recast that verse to say that because Jesus came to offer us abundant life, our enemy is waiting to destroy us.  For if you can find the life coherent to the one He uniquely created and intended for you to live, everything changes.  It is the game changer of all game changers.