We all desire to do more. There really aren’t many people who walks through life and chooses not to improve society.  We might not want to be Mother Theresa, but we would like to see a better tomorrow than was today. It is a virtue that we are naturally born with. It might be a flaw that evolution hasn’t corrected yet, but right now we want to make the world a better place.

The problem is that there are so many damn people problems in the world. What can we actually do? I’m not a superhero who can stop the genocide in Darfur. I’m not a millionaire who can help out the bankrupt amusement park owner who turned our city around. I can’t even stop time to help guide a lost stranger to his destination. I want to do something, but I dont have the time/resources/initative/skills/power/influence/income/ability/charisma/personality/../../.. to do what is required to affectively change the world.

I am not alone in this but maybe I am looking at it wrong. We don’t have to change the world. I do not know anyone who has the capabilities to change the world, but everyone I know has a desire to do it. There are simple things that I can do to improve my world. We all have the capabilities to change our world. If  I changed my world and you changed your world by following these 5 simple things then our world will be changed and over time we would have changed the world.

Change Your World

• Drop Your Change in the various charity buckets at McDonalds, Wal-Mart and your local gas stations
• Allow others ahead of you in line, on the road or walking in a door
• Help clarify an issue for a confused stranger or coworker
• Even if you are incredibly busy, stop what you are doing to look the individual talking to you in the eye.
• Ask your casual acquaintances, “How are you doing?” Then when they give any of the convential answers, ask them again “Really, how are you doing?”

Do you always want to be the best? Is there something in your life that you want to accomplish, but can never finish? No matter how hard we try, there is always something else that can be done. We want perfection. The house we own must encapsulate our dreams. Our children will attend the best schools and excel perfectly in their talents. Even in our own selves, we desire to reach for perfection. Nearly my entire day is driven to please someone or obtain a goal.

Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

 “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.” – New Living Translation [Matthew 19]

Asking The Right Question? 

This  is the story of a successful man wanting to know what he needs to do in order to get into heaven. We all know this type of person whom treats life like it is a giant checklist. The majority of people like to focus on Jesus’ answer, but I want to focus on the question.

Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?

We all know what this man is asking. What does he need to get into heaven. Take out eternal life and insert love, happiness, laughter, or contentment. Wouldn’t that question sound a little knaive? How do you define happiness and how much love do you want?

Jesus answered his question to follow the commandments.  He knew the man had asked the wrong question, but Jesus followed the path of the man’s reasoning. If you want to have eternal life by doing good deeds, then follow the commandments. If you want to do something to become happy then act friendly towards others.

More Please

Our desires don’t end there. My two year old son has just learned how to say the word more. He drags out the o and has to dip his chin to say it, but one cookie, jump or tickle is never enough. He wants moore.

We are all like my son. We always want to do the next thing, increase our happiness, or accomplish more responsibilities for status. The same goes for the man in the story. After Jesus told him to follow the commandments, he replied “Then What?”

Limits and Check Lists

At the end of the story, the man could not obtain the perfection he was seeking so he gave up. Jesus told him that if he wanted perfection then give away everything he had and follow Jesus as he healed the sick. Of course, giving away all of our posessions wasn’t the point.  He knew from the first question that the man did not understand. The man focused on a goal that continuously grows and there is nothing that we can do to mark these things off our list. Do you want success? How much does it take to be successful? Do you want balance? How much of the world must be balanced? We can put limits to how much we desire, but we will never be able to add these things to our bag of accomplishments.

The Finish Line 

Is this all to say that success and happiness are evil. I could not be a Christian if I  followed this logic. The man in the story was wanting to obtain Eternal Life. These things are all good as long as they are not the Finish Line. Jesus said that we need to first seek to develop a world where God’s inherent good artwork can be seen from creation. This is our finish line.  My role as a father is to develop an unselfish and servant-oriented environment in the family. My role as a stranger is to be friendly and helpful. When we put this as our finish line then success, happiness and contentment become the refreshing water along the run.

Get Rich Slowly is a finance blog that I frequent sometimes. I have gotten a few good resources such as clearcheckbook.com from them. They provide sound financial advice for those who desire to acquire more wealth without any schemes. Today I read a post about where our money goes when we invest in low-risk investments like money-market accounts, CD’s and savings accounts.

When we invest in any of these through our average bank, we have no idea where it goes. The bank simply gives the money to a company whom can be trusted to make money – even if the company leaks it to the murderers in Darfur. On the other hand, there are community development banks and credit unions whom intentionally invest their money into socially conscious products and resources. The investments could vary from the environment to foster care to developing affordable housing to fair trade efforts. This is the chance to actually take part in the process of Restoring God’s creation.  Get Rich Slowly actually go into detail of how investing in these socially conscious programs will not create a huge dent into your wallet.