One season under famous football coach Vince Lombardi, the Green Bay Packers suffered a discouraging loss to a very inferior team. Disappointed with the team’s performance, Coach Lombardi called for a special practice. Though disgruntled, the players met for this special practice. Coach Lombardi expressed his concern and said, “Ok, it’s time to get back to the basics.” He held up the ball to his professional football team and informed, “This is a football.” Today we too are going to learn about the foundations of a successful life. And we are going to keep it very simple. So let’s start with reading Psalm 11:3:

“If the foundations be destroyed what can even the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)

Over the years I have sought out ideas and principles through the scriptures to find ways to solve life’s challenges. I try to discover foundational principles that if followed will help us to live worthwhile lives. So I managed to pull out some simple principles out of God’s word. You’ve heard me say many times “Methods are many, Principles are few. Methods always change, Principles never do.” I was able to discover three very simple words that contain solid scriptural principles that will help to make our lives worthwhile providing we follow them. But it’s not only about these three simple words, but about the lives which are marked by them. Often we hear words but we don’t always apply them. As is written in the book of Proverbs:

“Listen to counsel and accept discipline in order that you may be wise the rest of your lives.” (Proverbs 19:20)

So it’s not just words but it is the discipline to follow what those words mean. You may need to adjust your schedule, change the cadence of your life, that when you follow these principles, using very simple words, you can follow them and be able to live very worthwhile lives.

It’s like this story about a Japanese man who doesn’t speak a lick of English. He comes to America and he asks the translator, “How do I order food? I don’t speak English very good.”

So the translator says, “Just remember three simple words: Hamburger, French Fries, Coke.”

The Japanese man practices, “Hambuga, French Fry, Coke.”

The translator says, “Very good.”

So the next morning the Japanese man goes to get breakfast at the restaurant, and the waitress asks “What would you like?”

The Japanese man says, “Hambuga, French Fry, Coke.”

The waitress says, “Okay.”

Later on for lunch the man again orders “Hambuga, French Fry, Coke”. Then again for dinner it is the same. For about three months the man orders the same thing; Hamburger, French Fries, Coke. Finally the man is getting tired of eating the same thing so he asks the translator for something else to order. The translator says, “Okay try Eggs, Toast, Juice”.

So the next morning the man goes to order breakfast and orders, “Eggs, Toast, Juice”

The waitress then asks him, “How would you like the eggs - over medium, over easy, poached, boiled or scrambled? And do you want white, wheat, sourdough or bagel for your toast. Then what kind of juice: orange, cranberry, pineapple, mango or apple?”

The Japanese man then simply answered, “Hambuga, French Fry, Coke.”    

It’s just a lot easier to keep it simple! So here is the first of the three words:

1) Life Would Be Worthwhile if you LEARN

Are you a person known as someone who likes to learn or are you someone who doesn’t like to keep on learning? You see this is the first of the three simple words that could help make your life worthwhile. Are you willing to learn or do you think that you don’t need to learn anymore because you know enough? Well let us read this from Proverbs:

“Zeal is not good without knowledge and the one who acts hastily – sins” (Proverbs 19:2)

And let’s read from Hosea:

“My people are destroyed for the lack of Knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)

You can’t be a disciple of Christ if you are not willing to learn. In Greek, the word they use for disciple is “mathetes” which means “Learner”. See, in Greek you cannot be a disciple unless you’re a learner because it is the same thing. We do have an old saying that says “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”  Well that is actually a myth, because what you don’t know WILL hurt you.

One day I was with a friend and we were eating sushi. All of a sudden he started screaming. I looked at him and asked what was wrong and he said he used some of the green paste on his sushi. I said, “That’s Wasabi”, he said he thought it was guacamole. So what you don’t know WILL hurt you.

Another fellow says his wife has what he calls “horror hormones” and every 28 days she is a different person. So I told him just be careful because if she asks you “do I look fat in this outfit?” DON’T say anything. What you don’t know WILL hurt you.

We learn from what you see, so pay attention. Pay attention to lectures, songs, sermons or conversations of people who are well versed with a certain skill or talent. We learn from what we hear, so be a good listener. We learn from what we read, so I encourage you to read at least one good book a year, because you could learn at least one new thing that could change your life forever, if you take the time to read and learn.

Another thing that a friend reminded me of is that we also have to learn to forget intentionally. As I get older I don’t need to intentionally forget, it’s organic that I forget often. But in reality we have to INTENTIONALLY learn to forget. It’s important especially for your mental health.

Famous author Alvin Toffler once wrote, that those who will be literate in the 21^st Century won’t be the people that only know how to read and write but will be people who can learn, UN-Learn and RE-learn. It’s not only what you take in, and it’s not only what you receive that’s learning, but it also is what you let go of. All the hurtful feelings or experiences of the past you need to let go of and you need to learn to forget.

There’s a story about a pastor who was talking to an older parishioner who was about 91 years old. He told her that she’s getting older now so she has to start to thinking about the hereafter.

 And she said, “I do think a lot about the here after”.

 He said “oh that’s good”.

“Yes”, she said, “every time I go into the other rooms I always ask myself now what did I come in here after?”

We need to learn to forget because there are certain things we cannot hold onto because it starts to destroy us from inside. It’s like holding a piece of burning paper. You keep holding onto it and it starts burning your hand and you scream in pain. You have to let go of it but you can’t because it’s your paper. You have to learn to let it go because the things you don’t let go of fast enough will hurt you.

There was a lady in Hilo, who came to me one day and she said, “You have to forgive me”

And I said “Why?”

She said “Remember what happened last year? You have to forgive me”.

I couldn’t remember so I said “What happened last year?”

She said “You remember, it was on this very spot on this very day, last year I said some harsh words to  you. Remember? You have to forgive me”.

“Well”, I said, “You must be forgiven because I don’t remember”.

She said “You must remember, It was right here and I was mean to you said some awful things to you. You have to remember!”And she kept on insisting.

But honestly to this very day, I don’t remember what happened. We have to learn to forget those things that have happened in our lives because it will eat away at us inside. One of the best things I learned is I had to learn to forget, because I have gotten into worse trouble when I don’t forget. You see we tend to remember things we should forget but we forget things we should remember. Don’t you know that even God intentionally forgets? Let’s read this in Isaiah:

“I am He who blots out your transgressions for your sake and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25)

He throws our sins into the “Seas of forgetfulness as far as the East is to the West” and He remembers them no more. God intentionally forgets our transgressions. He can remember them but He CHOOSES to forget them. But how often do we hold onto others’ transgressions? Do we rehearse them over and over again? In that way, it puts sins upon us and can destroy us. Our mind is like a bank in reverse. You see, when you deposit money into the bank and you leave it in the bank your money will grow. You take it out and your finances dwindle. But our minds work the opposite way, if we leave the hurt in our minds it festers and causes our lives to diminish, but if we learn to let it go then our minds grow and we can live freely. So, yes, we need to LEARN but we also need to learn to forget and that will help us to grow.

The second point is:

2) Your life will be worthwhile if we TRY

You really have to try, NOT half heartedly but you need to REALLY try. It doesn’t mean you have to try EVERYTHING but you need to TRY to increase what God has given to you. And you need to try wholeheartedly. What is it that you need to increase? How about your Bible skills, how about your marriage relationship, or how about your faith in God or your devotion to Christ? Everything that God has given to you, you need to TRY to increase. Do you remember, for instance, what was written in the Parable of the Talents. God gave to one man 5 talents, another man 2 and the third man 1.

The one who received 5 talents went out and he invested them and here we read from Matthew 25:

“The one who received the 5 talents came up and brought up 5 more talents and said, ‘Master you entrusted 5 talents see I have gained 5 more.’ His master said “Well done my good and faithful servant you have been faithful over little I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master.’”(Matthew 25:20-21)

Now then he comes up to the man whom he gave 2 talents and that guy gained two more.

“‘Master,’ he said, “‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more,’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”(Matt. 25: 22-23)

You see here that God isn’t seeing if you can outdo each other, He is just seeing if you are DOING something with what He gave you. Some of you are saying, “Well, I haven’t got as much talent as someone else or I can’t sing like that other person, nor do I have as much finances as him.” But God isn’t asking, “How much MORE are you doing than the next guy?” He is asking, “ARE you doing anything with what I gave you? Will you TRY to increase what I gave?”

Now the third man told the master “see I knew you were a hard taskmaster so I hid it” and as he handed the talent back to the master, the master said, “You didn’t even try”. And He said to him “You wicked and lazy slave… The least you could have done was put it into the bank and let it grow interest, you didn’t even try”. God gives us things in different degrees. Our talents, skills, gifts and potentiality is different from person to person, but it’s not to be given back to Him in the same state it was given to us, it needs to be increased.

So what has He given to you; a marriage, a gift, a devotion, finances, children… a faith? How has it increased since last year, are you trying at all to increase it? Will you hear Him say “Well done my good and faithful servant or will He say “you wicked and lazy slave”? Have you joined maybe a Bible study group to increase your faith? Or are you increasing your knowledge on your finances? What are you doing to increase in the things that God has entrusted to you? So remember the Parable of the Talents. Life can be worthwhile if you LEARN and if you TRY. Try to develop all that God gave to you. Develop and increase it. You’ve got to try.

Now the third word is:

3) Your Life would be worthwhile if you CARE

A lot of people don’t really care that much. What we need to mildly be concerned about we care a lot about, but what we really should care about we are mildly concerned about. You see if you care about something only a little then you will receive only little results. If you care a great deal you will receive great results and if you care incredibly about something then you will get INCREDIBLE results. It is all determined about the depth of your CARE. Remember the Man by the pool of Bethesda? Jesus asked him do you CARE enough to get well? Remember the 4 friends who broke a hole in the roof to let down their friend to be healed and Jesus looked up at them and said that they really CARED about their friend…

 your life will be very worthwhile.  It’s simple: if you learn, if you try, if you care, then your life will increase in what God has given you and it will be all worthwhile, but you really have to care.

Remember Naaman in the Old Testament? Naaman was a great General in the army who went to Elisha to receive healing from his leprosy and Elisha simply said to dip in the Jordan River 7 times. Naaman had expected Elisha to raise his hands and with an incantation wave his hands over his leprosy and heal him. But Elisha instead told his servant to relay a message to him to dip 7 times in the River Jordan.

“But Naaman went away angry and said, ‘ I thought  he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy’ … So he…  went off in a rage” (2 Kings 5:11-12).

God was saying to Naaman, “Do you really care about your healing?”  But, instead, Naaman went away furious.  He expected to be instantly healed by some miraculous hocus pocus healing from Elisha.  His servant asked him, “Do you really care to be healed? Is your image of being a famous general so much more important than your healing? Are you that concerned what others may think? If he told you to do something dangerous or difficult to be healed, would you do it?”

Naaman replied, “Well, yes.”

“ So then, will you at least TRY and simply do what Elisha said and dip 7 times in the muddy Jordan and not care about what people will say?” And so he did and Naaman was healed.

Do you care enough that it doesn’t matter about what other people think, or do you simply want God to sprinkle pixie dust on you and make things go away, or do you care enough to do what God tells you to do and will you do it? Do you care enough about your family, your marriage, your walk with God to do whatever God tells you? Maybe it’s to seek counseling. Maybe it’s to join a Bible study. Maybe it’s to invest more time in your children. You see there might be something said or done that will make a difference in your life and make your future worthwhile forever. Do you want only mild results? Then, care only mildly, but if you want deep results, then care deeply. If you care enough about your family or your faith, to increase your results then you have to care deeply. Do you care enough to “dip seven times” for whatever it is to make it all worthwhile????

So to make your life truly worthwhile you have to be willing to learn. Pick up a book and learn something new, but in your learning remember it’s not only in what you take in, but also what you let go. There are some of us who really have to let go of a lot of rubbish in our lives, so let it go.

I remember my doctor telling me, that our body needs to have a healthy way of elimination otherwise we become septic and die. And I thought that sounds like a spiritual principle, because if we just take in and don’t let go, like if we don’t forgive others then, neither will our Father in heaven forgive us, then we become septic and die. Because we have now taken on the sins of ourselves as well as sins of others and we will die because the result of sin is death.

Then secondly we need to try and thirdly is that we need to care and the deeper we care the deeper will be the results. The more we care about something the easier it gets. The greater amount of care the greater the results. So the more we learn the more we try and the more we care the more our lives become worthwhile.

Let me end with this story about a missionary in Africa. During the rainy seasons the roads are very muddy and on many occasions because he had an old jeep that would often break down it would get stuck in the mud. So he complained to the missions and kept requesting for a new jeep. But to no avail. One very rainy evening late at night there was a knock on the door, he opened it and there was a man from the village to which he ministers. He was drenched and muddy from the rain. This man had just walked ten miles to the missionary’s house to give him a Christmas gift. The missionary, concerned for the man, told him to come in out of the rain. The man said he had a gift for the missionary because he was so thankful for the messages about God and the sharing of God’s redemption that the missionary takes to the villages.

The man said that he carved something for him and though he isn’t an expert carver he wanted to present it to the missionary in deep thanksgiving like a first fruits offering. He said this was actually his first attempt at carving but he was so thankful. The missionary opened it up and was quite delighted by the sculpture.

The missionary asked the man, “How did you get here?”

 The man said he walked. The missionary said “Well then let me take you home in my jeep”. 

The man said “no” and that he will walk.

But the missionary, concerned, said, “But it’s late and its rainy, come let me drive you home”. The man insisted that it wasn’t necessary and that he would walk home.

The missionary persisted, “But it’s late at night and you have to walk 10 miles home, you’ll be getting home late and very drenched from the rain. Please let me drive you home”.

The man simply said “No”.

The missionary asked, “Why?”

 The man said, “Because the walk is part of the gift”.

So you see, when you care enough about something or someone the sacrifice diminishes because it is all a part of the gift. The greater the care, the lesser the sacrifice because it’s all a part of the gift. So when we LEARN and learn to let go, and when we truly TRY and when we deeply CARE then our lives WILL become more worthwhile.

1) What are you going to do to become a better learner?

2) What talent or gift or situation in life has God given you that you can increase for God?

3) What is it that you need to truly care about to improve your relationship with others and especially with God?

4) How can you increase or expand your faith, your talents, and your gifts?

5) How can you make your life more worthwhile using these three simple principles?