The Good Life

Philippians 4:11  “Not that I speak in respect of want:  for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” 

Hebrews 4:9  ” There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”

Late Sunday evening, after another weekend which seemed to end almost as soon as it started, I went outside to burn trash and check on the new goats.  It must have been close to 11:00 pm.  There’s something about a star-filled sky; not the host of heaven itself, but rather their declaration that this little world is such a seemingly insignificant componant in the vastness of creation.  They declare that there is a God who has always been and that his ways are simply beyond anything that we can even fathom.  We’ve all heard the song “Our God is an Awesome God.”  It’s an incredibly good song, and yet it seems to not even scratch the surface concerning the wonderous ways of the Ancient of Days. 

In such moments, even more than others, I find myself thinking that all of the collections this life could be gone tomorrow and it wouldn’t bother me.  As long as I have the Lord Jesus Christ abiding with me, nothing else do I need.  I remember another song which I haven’t heard in quite a while “Take the World, but Give me Jesus.”  He is our life, our peace, our reason for living, and if necessary, our reason for laying down our lives.  He is the one with whom we shall dwell for all of eternity.   In fact he inhabits eternity.  (as he said, “Before Abraham was, I am.)  These are words that we often speak but their significance tends to escape us.  This is because “forever” is a concept that we cannot really grasp.  We know what it means but have never experienced it in full.  To be in a state and know that this state is going to always be.  No “changing of the seasons” and no “end of days” as time itself will be retired. 

Some folks spend their entire lives collecting things.  Heaping to themselves treasures for the last days and then heaping to themselves teachers which tell them that it’s the will of God for them to keep on heaping.  Inevitably this becomes a snare as most of us are unable to handle such things and keep our priorities straight.  I was hearing about how a number of families are destroyed after a substantial lottery winning.  Money changes people.  Like the proverbial story of a band of friends who search for lost treasure or a gold mine and upon discovering it, will turn on each other.  Our culture, even many churches, are geared toward the accumulation of things which have no eternal standing.  (This wasn’t really intended but….well….uh….nuts)  Things that take our eyes off Christ Jesus who came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  True life that springs up from within, not dependant on something that has to be purchased from a retailer. 

 Proverbs 30:7-9  “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD?  or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

Contentment.  Joy in the Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed us with his own blood.  The ever so real peace of God that passes all understanding  and transcends all of lifes complexities.  This is “the good life.”  It’s the only life as outside of Christ there is no true life.  Even if everything falls apart and we find ourselves not knowing where our next morsel is going to come from, God is more than able to meet every need.  He takes care of all who love him in spirit and in truth.  When we understand this, we’ll not be rattled by the surrounding perplexities of this realm.  I have to do some running this morning, so this is going to have to be a bloglet.  I really pray that we all would have our affections on the world not seen; the one that will abide forever.  I’ll close now but will leave with some scriptures which I refer to often because they are good.  Gods word is all good. 

Isaiah 26:3  “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Hebrews 13:5  “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

If a chance arrises, Psalm 49:6-20 is worth visiting.  This needs to be in a later post.  It would be here if I had time.