"The Life"

It's interesting that my pastor this past Sunday only briefly mentioned one thing and it's sticking to me pretty well right now. I'm not the best at pulling out all the points of a multi-point sermon, so I often latch on to one thing and hope it sticks for long term. I think this past week I got one. God is Life.

Long past beer commercials once had men uttering, "You know, it just doesn't get any better than this." Usually these men were sitting around a campfire, enjoying time together and absorbing the richness of the moment. It's not a bad thing really. Community with other people is an essential that we often overlook. But the phrase itself may perhaps be a little weighty for a few brews with some buds. I've uttered the phrase multiple times.

How often have we said something like, "This is the life?" It has become a common phrase and yet, if you think about what we are literally saying, the magnitude in which we are holding "this" to is huge! Essentially we are saying that "this is IT!" or "I found it!" or "I got it!" The one thing that makes life all worthwhile.

Our passion for our spouses or adoration of our children may bring us to tell them that they are our life. Our love for them is like no other. That they are the reason behind our actions and endeavors.

Any of these things alone are not bad. As a matter of fact the examples are good. Friendship, Parenthood and Romance with one's spouse are all products of love, but are they "it?" Are they "The Life?"

Other experiences may be a little more self-indulgent. I want a slot track and a pool table, and consequently, a bigger house to put them in. If I had these things would I utter, "This is the life" or "It just doesn't get any better than this?" Maybe... or I'd find something else I wanted that would "make my life better." These pursuits by themselves are probably not bad, but they are, at the very most, temporal.

God is Life. My pastor went on to say that whenever we think something else is life we are in a state of idolatry. This hit me pretty hard, but in a good way. It's statements like this that provide perspective. What I am challenged to do now is to look beyond things that are temporal and to things eternal. To "live in the moment" could very well be me forsaking God once again. The first chapter of John as well as the beginning of Genesis pretty much says this. It's said more literally later in John when Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25), and "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). It's something to think about...finding and living the Life.