What is the good life?
I can still remember to this day the first time that I tasted cotton candy. It looked so good. The big, puffy mound of pink silk wrapped around a paper cone begged to be indulged in.
At the first bite, I found that all I had was a minute taste of sugar left in my mouth, only a slight taste. Where was the promise of the mouthful of ecstasy? It had vanished like a fleeting vapor.
Life is like that. An ever illusive promise that once the carrot at the end of the stick is grasped, it either turns sour in your mouth or fails to deliver the satisfaction it promised.
So what is the good life that the preprogrammed hole in every man's heart longs for?
When I first became a Christian, I found a verse in the book of John. John 10 verse 10 reads, "The thief's purpose (The devil) is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose (Jesus speaking) is to give life in all of its fullness."
Now THAT is what I was looking for, life in all its fullness. For that matter, isn't everyone?
Now to get on with the question, how do I find this life, this abundant life?
In the book of Mathew, Jesus is giving a marathon-teaching lesson. He has several thousand people seated on a hillside listening to him teach on the important issues of life.
Near the end of His teaching He inserts a sad statistic. Let's listen in to this subtle truth in Chapter seven, verse 13. He says, "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate, the highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few find it."
Jesus tells us that the "good life is so illusive that only a few find it. Now, I realize that He is talking about eternal life here in these verses, but doesn't eternal life start when one becomes a Christian? He is saying that few Christians ever find what He calls the abundant life, or live life to its fullest.
In another of His teachings in Mathew 16, verse 25, we find the key to this full life that so few ever find. "If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it." Isn't that the broad highway that multitudes are racing down? He then zeros in on the answer. "But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life."
There it is, the narrow gate that leads to the true, good, abundant life. We must give our lives away.
He also tells us in Mathew chapter 20 and verse 26 that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, we must be the servant of all.
We must realize that when we were created, we were given a peculiar personality along with special gifts so we could bless other people. These special gifts were not given to us so we could bless only ourselves, but they were given to us so we could bless others as well.
In the book of I Peter, chapter 4 and verse 10, we are told, "God has given special gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you." Doesn't this say that God wants to use us to be the conduit to bless others?
A modern translation of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10 says, "Never pass up the opportunity to do good to everyone, especially your Christian brothers and sisters.
And in one more verse we wrap up the truth. I John 3:16 says, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters."
Now we see why the path that leads to the narrow gate, that opens up to the good life is so sparsely traveled.
One thing is certain. Life is precious to all of us, we will go to great lengths to preserve our lives. The ironic thing is that if we aren't willing to give our precious lives away, we will lose them.
It is like the big puffy mound of cotton candy. We think we are biting into something that will give our taste buds a real treat only to find we took a huge bite of sugar flavored air.
There is so much talk these days about leaving a legacy after we are gone.
The legacy that I want to leave behind is to have it said of me, "There was a man who not only found, but took a big bite and tasted the GOOD LIFE."
See you again next weekend with another post.
I can still remember to this day the first time that I tasted cotton candy. It looked so good. The big, puffy mound of pink silk wrapped around a paper cone begged to be indulged in.
At the first bite, I found that all I had was a minute taste of sugar left in my mouth, only a slight taste. Where was the promise of the mouthful of ecstasy? It had vanished like a fleeting vapor.
Life is like that. An ever illusive promise that once the carrot at the end of the stick is grasped, it either turns sour in your mouth or fails to deliver the satisfaction it promised.
So what is the good life that the preprogrammed hole in every man's heart longs for?
When I first became a Christian, I found a verse in the book of John. John 10 verse 10 reads, "The thief's purpose (The devil) is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose (Jesus speaking) is to give life in all of its fullness."
Now THAT is what I was looking for, life in all its fullness. For that matter, isn't everyone?
Now to get on with the question, how do I find this life, this abundant life?
In the book of Mathew, Jesus is giving a marathon-teaching lesson. He has several thousand people seated on a hillside listening to him teach on the important issues of life.
Near the end of His teaching He inserts a sad statistic. Let's listen in to this subtle truth in Chapter seven, verse 13. He says, "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate, the highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few find it."
Jesus tells us that the "good life is so illusive that only a few find it. Now, I realize that He is talking about eternal life here in these verses, but doesn't eternal life start when one becomes a Christian? He is saying that few Christians ever find what He calls the abundant life, or live life to its fullest.
In another of His teachings in Mathew 16, verse 25, we find the key to this full life that so few ever find. "If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it." Isn't that the broad highway that multitudes are racing down? He then zeros in on the answer. "But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life."
There it is, the narrow gate that leads to the true, good, abundant life. We must give our lives away.
He also tells us in Mathew chapter 20 and verse 26 that if we want to be great in God's kingdom, we must be the servant of all.
We must realize that when we were created, we were given a peculiar personality along with special gifts so we could bless other people. These special gifts were not given to us so we could bless only ourselves, but they were given to us so we could bless others as well.
In the book of I Peter, chapter 4 and verse 10, we are told, "God has given special gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you." Doesn't this say that God wants to use us to be the conduit to bless others?
A modern translation of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10 says, "Never pass up the opportunity to do good to everyone, especially your Christian brothers and sisters.
And in one more verse we wrap up the truth. I John 3:16 says, "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters."
Now we see why the path that leads to the narrow gate, that opens up to the good life is so sparsely traveled.
One thing is certain. Life is precious to all of us, we will go to great lengths to preserve our lives. The ironic thing is that if we aren't willing to give our precious lives away, we will lose them.
It is like the big puffy mound of cotton candy. We think we are biting into something that will give our taste buds a real treat only to find we took a huge bite of sugar flavored air.
There is so much talk these days about leaving a legacy after we are gone.
The legacy that I want to leave behind is to have it said of me, "There was a man who not only found, but took a big bite and tasted the GOOD LIFE."
See you again next weekend with another post.
posted by Jim Burton at 8:09 AM
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