Dear Friends,

Candidates for office are fond of asking voters, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The implication is society, the economy, whatever, are disintegrating under the policies of the current office holders and a change is needed.

This disintegration may or may not be a fact, but the question itself plays on the human tendency to envy–our discontentment that, whatever we may possess, someone else has more and we want it.

Comparison is always the enemy of grace because it takes our eyes away from our Creator and Provider. Envy is the enemy of gratitude because it whines in our hearts, “God hasn’t done enough for me.”

A Christ-follower approaches this question differently. The gains of the past are a loss. All that matters is knowing Christ now and following him into the future (Phil 3:7-8, 12-14).

Jesus is tough with his requirement of looking forward. No thought of comfort, human obligation, or relationship justifies turning aside from following him. Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

People squirm around about this kind of tough talk, but the kingdom of God is all about loving the God who loves us, and loving the people he puts in our lives. I quote this verse all the time because it’s foundational–“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Love is the policy of God’s kingdom.

Anything that gets in the way of our commitment to our God or love for his children has to go. That’s why four-year look-backs may be good politics, but are lousy discipleship. We can’t love anyone in the past or serve them there. Our call is to the one who needs our mercy now (Luke 10:37). We can’t hang on to the stuff we had back then (Luke 12:13-21). The contentment of believers is found in our present relationship with God (Phil 4:10-13)

We are consumers, attuned to economic cycles and market trends, looking for bargains and after-holiday sales. The all-or-nothing singularity of the call of Jesus is alien and terrifying to us. We are always looking for a better deal for eternity. Those who can’t cut their own deal often leave the market refusing to accept that they are so far in the hole that Jesus had to give his life to redeem theirs in the exchange of the cross and the resurrection.

We tend to think somehow, somewhere, there must be a discounted salvation. But salvation has one price that neither appreciates nor depreciates–the life of Jesus Christ. To realize his life means giving up our own (Col 3:1-4).

Anyway we look at salvation, looking back gives us no respite and comparison shopping for a better deal yields us no advantage. God is proud of those who keep moving ahead toward an eternal home with him because onward and upward is the only way out of this doomed earth (Heb 11:13-16).

“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” is a question with no relevance to eternity. Who do you trust with your future? is the question you must answer.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.