Narrowminded Views #4 - Life Essentials Survival Guide - Distinguishing the Essential From the Uneccessary

What is really needed for life?

Though we may understand the difference between wants and needs, most entirely miss what is actually essential.

When attempting to reduce life’s essentials down to the minimum requirements, many agree on four necessities; shelter, clothing, food, and water.

We will briefly examine each of these four before moving on to what is actually much more essential.

1) SHELTER

Depending on one’s geographical location, the day to day necessity of shelter may vary, but in the winter months, it certainly helps in many locations.

There are places, however, where one can get by quite well without any real shelter.

Shelter does provide protection from wind, rain, sun, snow, and cold, and therefore can be beneficial in maintaining healthy body function.

No shelter can provide foolproof protection though, since either tornado, earthquake, hurricane or bomb can destroy all man-made shelters.

It also appears that millions of homeless people survive year after year, though some do use makeshift shelters.

Our common American understanding of shelter which is often equated to houses and apartments seems to be more of a creature comfort than a practical solution to what we consider to be a need.

Most people over history have done quite well with much less.

Examine the following verses pertaining to the early church and Jesus Christ Himself.

“Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold.” (Acts 4:34)

“And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests: but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)

In the end, shelter is not crucial to survival, though it can have effects that allow life to be prolonged and can make it more comfortable.

2) CLOTHING

Due to the fall of mankind, clothing has become commonplace.

It can prevent excruciating sunburns in summer and frostbite in winter.

Jesus once mentioned the following.

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matthew 6:25)

Though three out of four so-called needs were mentioned here, all except shelter, He was not specifically speaking to life’s actual essentials here.

Adam and Eve could have and would have lived forever naked had they not sinned.

Even though local law enforcement will not allow nudity in many places, there are those that still exist where once may live out his or her entire existence naked, especially since one technically does not need to ever leave one’s house.

Besides Adam Eve’s early existence being lived out in the nude, the prophet Isaiah also comes to mind.

“At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and Ethiopia;” (Isaiah 20:2-3)

Isaiah successfully lives for three consecutive years completely naked!

Though clothing may be appropriate and recommended, it also must be ruled out as a necessity.

3) FOOD & WATER

For perhaps obvious reasons I will deal with these together.

Food and water, of course, are needed frequently, since they fuel and hydrate our bodies.

Without supernatural intervention, physical life will stop if one refuses to eat and drink regularly.

For our organs to function properly and our bodies to have enough calories to sustain life, an almost daily intake of nutrients is required.

However, in the end food and water only allow one’s life to continue, and they do not guarantee it.

It is possible that one will die immediately after a descent meal and sufficient intake of H2O.

At best, physical life is prolonged by eating and drinking, since it prevents immediate death by starvation or dehydration.

Death, persistent as it is, still comes to all, despite whatever physical needs are met regularly.

What then is really essential?

To successfully “survive” life, one must be prepared for death.

No matter how long one’s life is, one’s eternity is much longer, and one’s eternity is both everlasting and unchangeable.

Now is the only chance that we have become aware of our options and then be prepared for the inevitable.

Let’s review the facts.

We are mortal, we have sinned, and God will judge us.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a, Romans 5:12, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:23, Hebrews 9:27, Ecclesiastes 8:8a, 12:7, 12:14, Revelation 20:12b)

Since God will judge each one of us upon our death, can’t we be good enough to escape punishment?

Couldn’t our good outweigh our bad?

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (Isaiah 64:6, Galatians 3:11a, James 2:10)

Our good deeds cannot outweigh our sin.

Just like saving the lives of two people down here does not cancel out the murder of another, we cannot erase our guilt before God just by refraining from sin or compensating for it with good deeds.

The crime still deserves to be punished.

Since God loves us though, it is not His desire to punish us; however, since He is the holy, just Judge, He will punish us if we reject His provision for our sin.

To remove sin once and for all, bloodshed is required.

“For the wages of sin is death; And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 6:23a, Hebrews 9:22, Leviticus 17:11, Revelation 1:5, Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 10:17, Psalm 103:12, Romans 8:1a)

This is why Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sin-free life, was judged and died in our place, and rose again.

Jesus died as your substitute so that you could be forgiven!

However, you must choose to receive this gift of forgiveness from God by trusting in Christ alone to make you right with God.
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“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 5:8, Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:8-9)

Apart from Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, no one can enter heaven, and all would perish.

However, all can choose forgiveness and enter heaven if they so wish.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, John 6:48, 3:15-16, 3:18, 1 John 5:12)

The choice has always been yours, but I hope that this Survival Guide has helped.

What is necessary to truly live?

Will you die and leave behind sufficient supplies for the physical life while being completely unprepared for your eternal spiritual life?

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shat believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Acts 3:19a, 13:38-39a, Romans 10:9-10)

2+2=4

Thanks, @narrowminded

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In case you missed them,

Narrowminded Views #1 : Jesus Christ : Crucified, Drawn & Quartered, Or Both?
Narrowminded Views #2 : When A Day Is Just A Day
Narrowminded Views #3 : As Much As Lieth In You