Are you living the ‘good life” this morning?
For many, that idea of the “good life” would evoke financial security, great health, abundant pleasures, and constant freedom.
But sadly, most of those pursuing that ‘good life” never find it;
and what they thought was lasting fades;
and what they thought was secure gets lost;
and what they thought was pleasure becomes pain;
and what they thought was real turns out to be fake.
Tragic, isn’t it? To miss the real “good life” for an imitation that is broken and useless – and all the time missing what Jesus offers, the most incredible life possible for any human to possess.
What is the “good life”? It is a life that flows from within. It is the original and genuine “good life”. All other varieties but His are counterfeit. Only Christ’s ‘good life’ never ends. All the rest do.
That is where we start in Mark 4.8 & 20 this morning. But before we hear Christ’s voice this morning, remember that anyone who is honest and has looked at life apart from God soon realizes that the world’s pleasures only offer the best at the first, and then, once you are “hooked,” things start to get worse.
Last week, as I tuned in to hear the news at the top of the hour, I was a couple of minutes early. And there in my car came the music of the ’60s and ’70s and one of those voices was the voice of Roy Clark singing his 1969 hit “Yesterday”.
The words his voice framed, exactly captured the fleeting pleasures of anyone who tries to live the “good life” apart from Jesus. Listen to these piercing words and think that this is all that life apart from Jesus has to offer:
1. Yesterday when I was young, the taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue. I teased at life as if it were a foolish game. The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame.
2. I ran so fast that time and youth, at last, ran out. I never stopped to think what life was all about, and every conversation I can now recall, concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all.
3. The game of love I played with arrogance and pride, and every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died. The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away, and only I am left on the stage to end the play.
4. There are so many songs in me that won’t be sung. I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue. The time has come for me to pay for Yesterday… When I Was Young
Unlike anything this world offers, Jesus continues to offer that which is best until we one day enjoy the finest blessings in His eternal kingdom (Luke 22:18). So how do we make sure we have today this ‘good life” that is genuine? The best way to start is to listen to Him, the Author of the ‘good life”
Open with me to Mark 4.8 and then 20 where Jesus explains that the “good life” is actually from a Good Heart – Accepts the Word.
Note that it is that which “comes from within”. So just as a good heart has fruit that comes from within and that fruit is produced by God. So we should see from within us fruit that springs up, increases, and comes to maturity.
We are the company of the unworthy, doing the impossible for the Glory of Another. Never was more asked of anyone than what Jesus Christ asks of you and me TODAY!
JESUS WANTS TO HAVE ALL OF US
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