A STANDARD OF LIVING - SAYS WHO

What is Your Standard of Living?

How was it determined?

Who determined it?

Are you willing to live any kind of way, and accept anything that comes your way?

Does your Standard account for some things, but not for other things?

These are all really important questions you should ask yourself.

A Standard of Living is critical because it impacts your overall wellbeing, and it sets the tone for the level of satisfaction you can have.

Everyone has a Standard of Living, albeit some might not know what theirs is. But we all have a Standard that we are living by or living with.

Human beings tend to like to create their own Standard of Living. But the Animal & Plant Kingdoms realize if they did that, they would die.

If you don’t know what your Standard of Living is, then allow me to provide you with some clues so that you can get an idea of the Standard you have chosen or what has been chosen for you.

CLUE #1

Your Standard of Living is reflected in 5 key areas of your life

·       Physical Health – Energy level, sleep quality, enjoyment of food

·       Mental Health – Level of stress, happiness, anxiety, peace, joy

·       Relationships – Friendly, healthy, fulfilling, broken, abusive, toxic   

·       Finances – Contending, conflicting, comfortable, overflow, giving

·       Rest / Recreation – Nonexistent, regular, occasional, fun/relaxing

Simply said, Your Standard of Living determines your Quality of Life.

A Low Standard = Low Quality. A High Standard = High Quality.

CLUE #2

Every time the Quality is low in an area, it’s because the Standard was low. This applies to all areas of our life, health, relationships, and opportunities.

That’s a Whole Message right there in itself! Think on that for a bit.

If you are unsatisfied in any area of your life, then check your Standard!

CLUE #3

Wanna change your life? Change your Standard and watch its effects.

As humans, we have always been concerned about material comfort.

Back in that garden, Adam and Eve wanted to be comfortable with their knowledge of things. They wanted to know more than just what God said. It cost them everything and yet they gained nothing.

CLUE #4

What price are you paying for comfort?

The issue is not in having a desire to be comfortable, the issue is who you allow to determine what that comfort looks like.

We need to be careful about who we let tell us what comfort is!

Adam and Eve were convinced to change their Standard, and the results were horrible and lasting.

CLUE #5

In the 1700’s in Europe, there was a time known as the Enlightenment Period, where a group of philosophers and scientists got together to try and explain human existence.

They sought to do it through “their own” reasoning, instead of through religion/spirituality.

They did not accept the idea that God alone could or should be the one to deem mankind worthy of existence, just because He said so.

These men were trying to come up with a different way to determine the worth of a human being.

CLUE #6

Question. Who have you allowed to determine your worth?

They believed there had to be another reason why people existed, so they devised A Standard of Living to justify a person’s life.

They decided it was better to value a person’s life based upon what another person thought of them. Not what God said about them.

Have you ever done this? Has this ever been done to you?

The notion of this idea that they had for a society was later incorporated into the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. Selah! Pause

The premise behind their thinking was the greater a country, the greater the people’s value, and the poorer a country, the poorer the people’s value.

They believed the more money produced would make for better people in that society. Those who could produce more would be worth more. And thus, Elitism was born.

Based upon this thinking they categorized some people as savages & barbarians.

Those who have little, or no money, were seen as not having much value, and certainly not as much value as others.

CLUE #7

Where did you get Your Standard of Living from? Says Who.

More to come… This is a Thompson Truth