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The Good Life, Part I
The world is on fire and we may be on the verge of actually holding the hand basket on its way to hell. This is the perspective of some people I know. They take a media diet of Glenn Beck for the a.m. commute, conservative blogs during the day and Rush Limbaugh for a mid afternoon snack, Sean Hannity during the p.m. commute and then, because they can’t get enough, they TiVo the Glenn Beck show and watch it before dozing off at night. I was surprised by their lack of self awareness. One of them is on medication in order to get to sleep and the other two are void of the consistent joy that is the mark of a Christian. It seems they are blind to the correlation between their physical and emotional state and the media feast they indulge. Yes, the capital “C” word in the last sentence is not a typo; they all profess Christ as Lord and Savior. They attend church regularly, know the Bible and give a percentage of their income to the church but somehow, somewhere they have lost perspective.
When we read the Matthew passage we find a fascinating dialogue taking place between Jesus and a young man full of great wealth who may have also lost perspective. The young man asserts that he has kept all the commandments. But, even before we see Jesus respond to the qualifying question in verse 18 we must not overlook the apparent contention between the young mans use of the adjective “good” and Jesus clarification of his word choice by pointing to the fact that the commandment Giver alone is good. Jesus redirects the debate to the heart of the matter (and the young man) by elevating the inquiry about the requirement for eternal life to the requirement for perfection. If he wants what he says he wants, he must obey the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me”, by giving all he has to the poor. The young man chooses to walk away.
Idolatry can be subtle. Jesus knows this and He knows the things that vie for our attention and affections. He knows it is easy to trade one form of idolatry for another in the hopes that it will answer the question, “what must I do to have the good life?” He knows we will put our faith in what we worship whether it is our works, our family, our possessions, or as in the case of the three people mentioned above, in a political party, a system of government and a quality of life. Have any of these things ever provided on their promise? If we connect to these things we will be disillusioned, and disheartened.
Jesus offers a better way and a harder way. A way that is impossible without Him. He offers us Himself. Jesus Christ is the gospel. He is the good news that the good life is possible through our sole connection to His person. The young man had substituted his good works for faith in Christ and His work. Yet, he knew something was not right with his soul or why inquire of Jesus in the first place? My three folks mentioned above may not have realized that they have substituted things for the Person of Christ. My prayer is that in His grace, Christ will shatter their illusions and bring them back as those who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth where they will find the Good Life.
Amen!
Well said.
You must be a liberal!!
Thanks, Mark! I love your bio…so funny…but you definitely keep your style lively with your plaid shorts/pants!
Congratulations on your special day yesterday and all the hard work that you put into getting there.
Mark,
You’re one of the few to give the young man genuine consideration. It’s surprising how often he’s written off as woefully misguided and self-absorbed. But I believe you’re absolutely right: he did know something was amiss. We never give credit for his assertion that he’s kept the commandments faithfully from his youth, but I’ve never seen a good reason to doubt his seriousness or sincerity in that. It’s precisely because he’s been exceptionally faithful as best he knows how (like Paul in this regard) that he has a dawning awareness of his own insufficiency. In other words, he only knows that keeping the commandments isn’t enough because he’s already done so. We’re often content to fall far short of even that mark, of genuine determination to move toward what is pleasing to God. It’s exactly the wrong kind of striving, in contention rather than collaboration with God, but I firmly believe Jesus gave the young man a clear view of both the depth of his own inability and in the breadth of grace waiting.