1 John 4: 7

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! I have to tell you, it happens in a preacher's life where sometimes you plan to say one thing, and then an inspiration grabs hold of you, and you just have to preach on that. This is one of those mornings, and so with your indulgence, I will change the sermon title. The title is "We Were Born for This." And the scripture I'd like to explore with you is this one: it's from the letter of 1 John, the fourth chapter, the seventh verse. Consider these words please: "Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is born of God and knows God." The word of the Lord; thanks be to God.

I've been so privileged in my life to know some great, great teachers. One of them is a preacher by the name of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. How many of you recognize that name? Ah, almost everyone. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was a great writer, and he has really changed the face of Christianity in America and the world. He was pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City for 50 years. I claim him as my father in the faith, a great man and a great teacher.

Dr. Peale tells a story. He went to Hong Kong on a preaching tour. One day, he was walking down the streets of Hong Kong and he went passed a tattoo parlor. He stopped for a minute and looked in the window. He saw that in this tattoo parlor you could get all kinds of tattoos. You could get flags and dragons and letters and designs and slogans. One of the slogans caught Dr. Peale's eye, because it said, "Born to lose." Can you imagine how the father of positive Christian thinking felt about that? Born to lose! He decided to check it out, so he walked into the tattoo parlor and said to the – what would you call the person? – the administrator of tattoos? – he said to him, "Would anybody actually have that tattooed on himself?"

And the man said, "Oh, yes sir, people do. As a matter of fact, the person that just walked out of here before you came in had that tattoo put on his arm."

And Dr. Peale said, "That's amazing. Why would anyone have such a gloomy statement tattooed on his body?"

And the man said, "Tattoo is on mind before tattoo is on arm." Isn't that the truth? That slogan was emblazoned on that person's mind before he had it emblazoned on his arm.

My question to you is this: How do you fill in the blank, "Born to _____"? Christian friend, how do you fill it in? Is there someone here today perhaps who is so despondent and so desperate that he or she feels that life up to this point has been ‘to lose'?

Well, have I got good news for you today! Because how you fill that in is tremendously important. What's written up here [in your mind] is more important than what's written here [on your arm].

Born to … what? I don't know how many of you are familiar with the comic strip "Kudzu." I love to read "Kudzu." It's about a Southern boy. One of the characters in the strip is the minister, the Reverend. He always wears spectacles and has a big black hat. One day the Reverend decided he was going to get himself a motorcycle. One of the strips had him riding on the motorcycle. He was wearing a leather jacket and on the back of the jacket it said, "Born to raise heck." I always enjoyed that.

Born to … what? Someone suggested after the first service that the slogan is "Born to shop." Maybe that's true for some folk. But if I can move away from the tattoo image, what would you have over your fireplace? What words would you paste on your bathroom mirror? Born to … what?

May I suggest three ideas, dear friends? First, you are born to live! Live a little! Oh, responsible, hard-working people, you were born to live. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." And when I say "live a little" I don't mean to do what the television tells you to do. What is it on that TV ad, "Go to Foxwood" or to the casinos? That's not really living; that's momentary.

Live a little. Express yourself. Make music. Sing. Read that great book. Do something special for society. Read the book of poetry. Go back to school. Live your dream. Sketch. Paint. Draw. Read. Sing. Spend time with your dear ones. Live a little.

The Bible doesn't say, "God created man and woman and then placed them in a windowless cubicle where they could work their whole lives long and make money till they die." That's not what the Bible says. There's nothing wrong with work; we all need to earn. But God created man and woman and put them in a garden. He placed them in a garden so they could live a little. How about you? You were born to live.

Second, you were born to love. Wouldn't that be nice hanging over the fireplace, those two slogans?  Born to live. Born to love. Born to love what? Born to love God. Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God." When you come to be a member of this church I ask you, "Do you love God?" It's not enough to just believe in Him. You have to love Him with your heart. Come to church, read your Bible, pray, become more and more enthusiastic about your faith.

I had a wonderful thing happen to me this week. I was in my office and a family wanted to come in and see me. I thought they wanted counseling. And they said, "Pastor, we've been reading the Bible. We want to know how we can get more involved in the church. How can we do more in the church? Tell us! Give us some ideas." And I did.

They said, "Pastor, what's this tithing thing? Can you show us about it in the Bible? And I did. And they said, "We want to tithe."

And they said, "Pastor, one more thing. We have family members that say they need the Lord. How shall we witness to them?" So we talked. It was a great visit.

Love the Lord your God. That's where living takes place.

Love other people. Let me ask you this: the people who are truly memorable in your life – maybe even folks who have gone to be with the Lord – are they the most well-educated? Are they the most famous? Or are they the most loving? Are they the people who cared about you and whom you remember for their loving care? They were born to love, and they were a success. Born to live. Born to love.

You're probably wondering why I didn't say "Born to win". I'm not comfortable with that, because ‘win' means there's a loser. Win means there's a competition, and you know how I feel about competition. No, you're born to live. You're born to love God and other people.

And one more – you're born to bless. That's the third rung of the ladder. You are born to bless, and if you bless, wow! What a full life you have! How can you bless? A word of encouragement here, an uplift there, a special gift here. You were born to be a blessing. Wouldn't you like to be remembered that way? I would.

You know who I think of when I think of being a blessing? Fred Rogers. The Reverend Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers to most people. You didn't hear me talk much about him after he passed away; I couldn't. I just couldn't do it. He just meant too much to me. Whenever Fred Rogers spoke, he gave a blessing to children and to adults who happened to hear him. Fred Rogers spoke at the graduation ceremony of Westminster Choir College several years ago, and I was so glad I was there to hear him! His beautiful presence and simple words said, "I like you, just the way you are. You are a beautiful person, just as you are." And here was a room full of scholars choking back the tears, because they were hearing words of powerful blessing.

Wouldn't you like that for yourself? Wouldn't you like to be known as one who blesses? Oh, you can do it! Friends, as we talk together on Sunset Road, when the sunset of the day comes and you say, "Did I live a good day, God?" the questions are "Did you live a little? Did you love a lot? Did you bless?" And if you can say "yes", it was a good day, and a good week, and a good life. May it be so for you, because God loves you. I do, too. Have a blessed week. Amen.