Life Is Good

I was with an Ag group participating in a golf outing down south, enjoying 80-degree weather one winter. We used a taxi service to get from one place to another, and if you can for a moment, imagine what topics are targeted with a carload of men. What stuck in my mind was one cab driver talking about his lifestyle. He was boasting about his works of the flesh forbidden in Galatians 5.  He proudly concluded his list of pleasures with the statement “Life is Good.”

I visualized in this man what the Lord saw when His chosen people fell into apostasy with Baal worship. Unfortunately, our culture has drifted in a path that tries to convince us that the “good life,” the life you will enjoy the most, comes from pursuing earthly pleasures.

Life To Die For

Now I humbly admit, I was living in a heaven on earth rut at one point in my life as well. But then it happened, I died. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  All of a sudden, I am truly living the good life because “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Romans 6:6).

This is an unbelievable feeling, “to put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life” (Ephesians 4:22). The “good life” is indeed on earth, but it is in the renewed spirit of Christ who lives in you and me and affects everything we do.

Introducing The Good Life

The purpose of life on earth now becomes a mission to turn the heavenly light on for for someone else. That person at the gas pump looking depressed, or the person driving the cab that has fallen to the schemes of the devil. Our mission becomes sharing the gospel with a family member. It might even be a friend that needs God in their life, or a fellow saint in the congregation that could use a spiritual boost. The list can go on and on and it is unbelievably gratifying to know that you can give that needed love. Plant that seed of the gospel, and radiate that same love Christ so graciously gives us.

However, that is easier said than done, is it not? “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6). God just wants us to plant the seeds. It may take moments or years for them to sprout. But if we plant the gospel to those in need, the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts and minds. We may never see that cab driver or person at the gas pump again. However, through our prayers and the work of the Holy Spirit, they might just get a bountiful harvest of the “good life.”

Lord, help me obtain the wisdom to plant the seeds of your grace to those in need. Use me to show others the good life and the better things to come. Amen.