If someone (who is not Kayne West) talks about having the good life, or wanting the good life…what are they talking about? Actually, what is Kayne West talking about? Wait…that’s too broad of a subject that nobody can really answer…scratch that. What are the examples we think of when we hear that so and so is living “the good life”?
“I wanna’ win American Idol because I wanna’ have the good life from now on!” – what do you think that means?
That’s going to be our topic of exploration this Sunday as we tackle Luke 18:18-30.
Jesus weighs in on the good life when a wealthy local official comes and asks him how to get it. He actually asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life, which held a greater meaning than just “going to heaven when you die”. For the 1st Century Jewish person, eternal life carried the implication of the fulfilled purposes for Israel – the wholeness of plan and purpose which extends on into eternity. We could just say “the good life”…life as it’s meant to be.
Here’s some stuff to ponder and weigh in on. The guy asks what he “should do” to get the life he’s meant for. What do you think he may have had in mind by that? Jesus answers with a list from the 1o commandments…does that seem strange to you? The guy asserts that he’s being doing good at keeping the commandments all along…but it’s interesting that the very FIRST commandment was not on the list that Jesus gave. Does that give us any clues about why Jesus starts talking about personal finance with him?
Could it be there was an idol in the wings?
What do you think the message is to us in this? What does Jesus imply about finding a fulfilled life? What could hold us back from that?
Ok….that should keep us thinking until Sunday! Hope to see you then!
WONDERWHAT 
As often as I have heard or read those verses it never occured to me that the 1st commandment is not listed. Boy does that give it a new way of thinking about the story. Frankly, it gives me a pause to rethink my story. While I may try as hard as possible to follow the basics (not including the 1st commandment), and I try not to put finances or anything else in the 1st spot, does that necessarily assume that I have “loved God with all my heart and have placed no other God before Him”. The list Jesus repeats appear to be the law, and I really don’t do those real well. Somedays I am great at one or a couple of them, but tomorrow not so great. It is almost like the pharisees would put the law above God. Maybe if I would just love God with all my heart, the rest would naturally fall into place.
And how much more do we cling to the things of this world when this world seemingly is ‘stealing’ it away? I, at times, ashamedly find myself fearful of losing what seems to be the only secure things in this current economic climate. How can I even doubt that my FATHER would not provide for me, HIS beloved child? He ALWAYS has, He ALWAYS will. His promise to sustain in need has never wavered. I know that I know that I know…and yet, somehow, in fear, I can allow what is temporal to trump what my heart knows to be eternal. I don’t have to desire wealth or even cling to it to find myself the camel. The attachment to ANYTHING of this world could qualify me as placing another ‘god’ before the one true God. To love God with all my heart, and place nothing above Him, is my heart’s desire…how much more is it my Lord’s desire!