Living the Real High Life

Living the Real High Life

We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with propaganda to influence the way we think, the things we desire, the car we drive, the food we eat and pretty much anything advertisers want us to buy. Long ago, men who wanted power over the masses realized that effective marketing was the way to achieve their goals. If they could promote a message long enough and emotionally enough, people would eventually accept it as the standard, the reality of life.

Most people do not like to think that they are so heavily influenced by advertising. However, the simple fact that companies spend billions and billions of dollars a year tells us that we are. You are affected by advertisements, whether commercial, political or social, in every form of media to which you are exposed.

You have to ask yourself, how could millions of people living in a civilized society in the twentieth century agree as a people that torturing and murdering people because of their ethnic origin was acceptable? Hitler knew the power of propaganda. He knew that he didn’t have to get everyone to kill the Jews or to hate black men and women. All he had to do was get people to stay quiet about their views, to just go along with the crowd.

What about us today? Has the non-stop bombardment of illicit sex made you willing to go along and compromise with the world? Has the world made you think that living a sexually pure life and devoting yourself to your husband or wife alone is unrealistic or somehow, less? Or has the message of tolerance caused you to stand silent and say it is OK to murder babies in the womb? Has the propaganda we face every day on the radio, in the news, in movies, or on TV caused us to silence our voices against those who seek to destroy or corrupt the innocent?

God is calling you to stand up for what is right and honorable and good in life. He wants you to have a vision for your life that tremendously supercedes the cheap thrills this world offers you. God wants you to know that there is a meaning and purpose for life beyond our years here on the earth. God wants you to know that there is a way of life that produces peace, patience and abundance for every member of society. God wants you to know that He will stand by you if you will stand up for what is righteous and true. He wants you to live a life of character and integrity.

Integrity is knowing what is right and doing it. Integrity means standing up for your values, standing up for others and standing up for what is truly right. We live in a world designed to distract us, to get us to stop thinking, to get us to stop hoping. God calls us to His life where we learn to ask good questions, where we think about the causes and effects of our actions, where we think about others and have a hope for the future.

The Bible reveals tremendous plans for life and unsurpassed ways to achieve them. It might seem easy to go along with the crowd, to party, to get drunk, to do drugs, etc., but does an aimless life really produce joy or satisfaction? God calls us to stand up and say “No” to all the shallowness of the world. God calls us to live life with respect for ourselves and others. God calls us to live by a higher standard and a higher way. We are not called to go along with the crowd, but to stand up for God our Father and Jesus Christ and their ways.

God knows the ways that produce peace for everyone and God wants you to have peace in your life. Remember this: true and lasting peace is not a result of conforming; true and lasting peace is a result of conforming to what is true and lasting. Cultivate a greater vision for yourself than simply what you feel or think you need today. Set your mind on things above, where Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God our Father in heaven (Colossians 3:1-4).

As Christians, God tells us to lay aside every weight that so easily besets us, every sin that pulls us down (Hebrews 12:1). Overcoming sin and the general ways of this world do not come from our own strength. Not by power or by might, but by My Spirit, says the Lord. God promises to give us the strength to overcome our sins by faith in Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit. When we set our minds upon Him, He gives us everything we need to become like Him.

You are so special to God. You have been called to be a holy and special person, part of a holy and special people. Take the higher road. Take the road less traveled, for it is the narrow and difficult path that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14). Commit yourself to living according to God’s ways. Stand with integrity. Stand with devotion to what is right and true. Stand with the Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for us that we might know life eternal life. Eternal life is more than just being conscious forever; eternal life comes from knowing God and living according to His ways of godliness and peace.