DESIRING TRUE LIFE
From the time we are little children we know life is meant to be enjoyed. Every heart shares a desire for a joyful life. All of us are pursuing our pleasure. This is why we do what we do. We believe it will bring us joy. This compels all that we do. Everyone wants the most joy out of life that they can have. Everyone wants to truly live.
SEARCHING FOR TRUE LIFE
There are different definitions of course as to what the good life is, about what it means to have truly lived. Some seek the meaning of life in their family, career, or status. Some seek joy in life through the pursuit of sex, money, or power. Others seek it in doing good, feeling good, or in knowing truth. We seek it in control, approval, and comfort. We look to entertainment, education, esthetics, and escape. It is sought anywhere and everywhere. Every magazine and commercial makes an appeal to our souls that they provide the right answer, the true avenue to satisfaction. Little time is given to assessing the claims but all of our time is given in pursuing them – some of them, all of them, or inventing a new one. We are always searching.
MISSING TRUE LIFE
There is no end. Though a full and satisfying life is sought in everything under the sun, in all that has been created, there still seems to be emptiness, loneliness, and a desire for more. Our hearts are restless. We may find fulfillment in a moment, a season, or even for several years…but live long enough and each of us will find our searching turns up in disappointment. Even those that have achieved all they ever wanted find that it doesn’t bring what they thought it would. The Bible says that God put eternity into our hearts. This means we can never find an eternal joy by seeking it in natural ways. No matter how much we fill our life with the “right things” we will never find true joy and thus we will never truly live.
RECEIVING TRUE LIFE:
We desire this life of joy because God built us for joy. He built us to enjoy relationship with Him. But instead we have all disconnected ourselves from God. Whether by choosing other gods/loves, ignoring God, dismissing God, or merely paying lip service to God. Thus a hunger for life’s joy and meaning remains inside of us but instead of turning to God we look to the things he made. We chase the beam instead of the sun and we cradle the gift instead of loving the giver. We may say we believe in him but we do not truly enjoy him in any real sense of the word. We may even say we know him and love him but the evidence of our life would never prove that. We may even call him Lord but in actuality our life shows that many other things are what govern us, direct us, and motivate our hearts…they are lord. We are like spoiled kids who reject a loving Father but want his credit card. We never truly find what we are looking for because instead of looking toward God we look for it in places that cannot truly satisfy.
Because of this God is just to give us what we want – a life apart from him, pursuing false joy into eternity. Instead, on the cross He takes all of this sin on himself and gives us a relationship with himself. Jesus said he came to give life and life to the full. When we turn to him then we can enjoy all that he has created, in the way he has created it…to more fully enjoy him. We then can know freedom, true joy, and live a true life. This is God’s plan for the world. He wants to bring full joy both personally and publicly, to both individuals and civilizations. He is passionate about the whole world experiencing the true joy in knowing him. This is where we find joy. This is what it truly means to live.
Because of this God is just to give us what we want – a life apart from him, pursuing false joy into eternity. Instead, on the cross He takes all of this sin on himself and gives us a relationship with himself. Jesus said he came to give life and life to the full. When we turn to him then we can enjoy all that he has created, in the way he has created it…to more fully enjoy him. We then can know freedom, true joy, and live a true life. This is God’s plan for the world. He wants to bring full joy both personally and publicly, to both individuals and civilizations. He is passionate about the whole world experiencing the true joy in knowing him. This is where we find joy. This is what it truly means to live.
