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!