What Kind of Lifestyle Should I Strive For?
Editor’s note:
When you’re first starting out, there are many decisions to make. You have to think through your career path, choose a home church, set personal and professional goals for yourself, wrestle through your finances, and sort through other issues—big and small—that will set the trajectory of your journey. Many people in this stage of life dream about the kind of lifestyle they hope to pursue for themselves or their families. As Christ-followers, we need to consider how our faith should play into the lifestyle choices we make. Will they honor the Lord and align with His plans and purposes for us, our families, and those within our spheres of influence? It’s all too easy to get caught up in what the world views as the perfect lifestyle. We are surrounded by worldly examples—and it’s hard to avoid comparing ourselves to others who seem to have everything lined up to preserve their security and comfort. Thankfully, Jesus not only sent His Spirit to guide us through these issues but also modeled them in the way he lived His life on earth.
Jesus’ Lifestyle
When God became flesh, He didn’t do so as a member of the Jewish ruling society or as the son of an expert in the law. He came as the son of a carpenter from a tiny insignificant province under the control of the Roman Empire. Carpenters could make a decent living, and He likely had plenty of work in the Roman-controlled territory. We do know that his family was too poor to bring a lamb as a sacrifice at Mary’s time of purification after Jesus’s birth. Instead, they brought a single bird, which was only permitted if you couldn’t afford a lamb (Lev. 12:6). The picture we get of Jesus is of an ordinary peasant. Poor, but not destitute.
We can presume that Jesus worked as a carpenter until he entered public ministry around the age of thirty. At this time, Jesus gave up any comfort the life of a carpenter offered and adopted the lifestyle of an itinerant preacher—traveling around from place to place with no home. In His words, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20).
He demonstrated an extravagant love for mankind as he humbled himself absolutely so we might know him completely. He made himself poor so we might be spiritually rich.
Jesus gave up his Galilean home to preach and minister. This wasn’t the first time he had done this. When Jesus became flesh, he left behind his eternal home—the throne of God in all its glory, might, and majesty. He had the entire universe at his feet and left it behind to be born to a young girl in an out-of-the-way town. As Paul says of Jesus, “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor” (2 Cor. 8:9a). Jesus became man for the purpose of wrapping himself with humanity and bearing it to the cross. He became poor and lowly so we might become spiritually rich. And we find these riches in a life following him.
As Jesus began his earthly ministry, he gave up even the simple comforts of his home. He walked away from his few possessions. As a traveling preacher who’d have to carry everything he needed, he traveled light, relying on others for shelter and provision.
Taking these things together, we see Jesus living a life with little, relying on others to care for him. His life’s testimony was in laying everything down. He demonstrated an extravagant love for mankind as he humbled himself absolutely so we might know him completely. He made himself poor so we might be spiritually rich. His love took him from the throne room of God to a manger and ultimately to a cross. This was the life of Jesus.
Faith & Finance Perspective:
So, what can we learn from Jesus’ lifestyle on earth while determining our own? Jesus was focused on what truly matters—always in step with what He saw His Father doing. He wasn’t concerned with earthly comforts and lavish lifestyles. He was focused on the eternal, making sure others came to know the rich mercy, grace, and love of His Father. What will we learn from Jesus’ example? Are we, like Him, willing to surrender our earthly longings and comforts in order to help fulfill our Heavenly Father’s plans and purposes? What are some of the specific longings that His Spirit may be prompting you to rethink?
But whatever gain I had, I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. – Phil 3:7-8
