April '18 Newsletter: "The Good Life"

​     This month, I pray that you experience the “good life.” This
“good life” has come up in Sunday school classes, Wednesday Bible
study, and in sermons – and it has usually ended up with the question:
“What is the good life?”

     My first instinctive reaction is how nice it would be to have no
debt and be financially secure, to have good food at every meal (with
no cleanup!), and to fall asleep to a deep back rub every night.

     But that’s not what God means by a good life, that’s a worldly
dream of an easy life. In Matthew 11: 28-30, Jesus says, “Come to me,
all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light.”

     At first reading, you may say, “See, Jesus is saying the promise
is that life will be easy by following him!” Think again. A yoke is
what connects an ox to a plow. Jesus had work to do, and it involved
tilling the spiritual soil and planting seeds of truth – it involved
exposing wrong and knowing truth enough to communicate it. Jesus’ work
included difficult and obstinate people, storms, temptation and
resistance. Jesus’ work was not easy. . . But it’s easier than dealing
with the stress, stirring, and turmoil your spirit experiences when
you’re NOT doing His will.

     Jesus’ burden is light? He not only carried a huge wooden cross,
but also the sins of the world! How is that light?! But is not the
burden of forgiveness lighter than the burden of resentment? The
burden of loving those that are hard to love lighter than the burden
of hate and rejection? The burden of self sacrifice and thinking of
others actually lighter than desperately scraping in all directions to
feed our insatiable wants and needs?

     The good life is not all back rubs and lobster. The good life is
when you need little and want less. It’s when you know God’s working
power and trust in His timing. It’s when you remember to seek him in
prayer and in deed instead of just trying to do it by your own best
efforts or ideas. It’s when you would rather give a good back rub than
receive one.

     Seek God today. Live the good life.  See you at the watering hole.