💥 Why do you live the life that you live?

Have you ever wondered why you do the things that you do? Or why do you live the life that you live? Yes, a large part of the way we do life is due to our culture, upbringing, the economic conditions that we are born into, and a number of other factors.
 
Proverbs 23:7 KJV
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
 
Regardless of the factors that have influenced your life, the main cause of you living like you are is what you believe and how you see things.  The culture that you have been brought up in has primarily shaped the way that you think, formulating many of your beliefs about God, yourself, and life. The way that we think in our hearts (our worldview, or core values) determines how we live our lives.
 
According to SOS Children’s Village, two-thirds of people in India live in poverty: 68.8% of the Indian population lives on less than $2 a day, while over 30% even have less than $1.25 per day available. India has a population of 1.3 billion people of which 189.2 million are undernourished (14%), 20% of children under 5 years of age are underweight, and 51.4% of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) are anemic (Source: India Food Banking). 189.2 million people are hungry, in India, right now. There are many reasons for this tragic state of affairs, one being poverty and this, I believe, is largely due to an unhealthy worldview and belief system.
 
80% of India’s population believe that the cow is a sacred animal.  In 2020, India’s cattle inventory amounted to over 303 million – the highest cattle population in the world (source: statista).  And yet, the majority of Indians view the cow as sacred and will not even inconvenience a cow, never mind eat one. The cow is also protected by law. For killing or harming a cow you could be fined or face imprisonment. Indians are hungry because of a wrong religious worldview that holds them in bondage.
 
In the book of Acts, chapter 10, Peter has a vision in which he sees something that looks like a large tablecloth and on it were many kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and wild birds (verse 12). God speaks to Peter and says, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” (Acts 10:13 NKJV).  Peter struggles with this because his Jewish mind and worldview held that some of those animals were unclean, and so Peter even protests saying, “There’s no way I could do that, Lord, for I’ve never eaten anything forbidden or impure according to our Jewish laws.” (Acts 10:14 TPT) To which God replies and says, “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” (Acts 10:15 NLT).
 
Peter was hungry at the time of this vision and yet he was prepared to stay hungry because of a very strong belief, which just so happened to be an error. God, Himself, struggled to get the blessing of food to Peter because of His wrong beliefs.
 
When we start to value the lives of animals more than the lives of people, we have become twisted and have severely deviated from God’s values and God’s order in the world.
 
The point I am making here is that what we believe largely determines the life that we live. This is why what we believe is so very important. This is why the message of the gospel needs to reach the ends of the earth and bring light and freedom into cultures where people do not know God.
 
Romans 8:6 KJV
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
 
Carnal-mindedness is the opposite of being spiritually-minded. One of the results in life and peace, while the other doesn’t result in a favorable outcome. We need to choose life by choosing to focus on the truth of God’s Word, believe the truth of God’s Word, and allow our lives to be directed by the truth of God’s Word.

Much love,
Shayne