Life

Life is what happens when you’re making plans.

No one– Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist– no one is immune to the trials and tribulations common to the Human Race.

We all make plans. We all have hopes and dreams for the future, often based on what is happening at the current time, whether they look promising or foreboding, we look for things to be better.

Someone said Life is like a river that carries us into the future, and before we know it we’ve gone far downstream and passed by things we should have taken the time to embrace– the important things.

And the important things are not usually the things we can buy or hold or see or collect, but they are the people who come into our lives in one way or another. Those people – the relationships– don’t last forever, it’s another part of human existence. But the love and care we have for them, and theirs for us, is what is important. Mort important than money or fame.

But we all have the habit of making plans, and there’s nothing really wrong with that, but we have to remember that Life will inevitably bring change sooner or later.

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, Jesus tells the story of a rich man who had a really good year, and he preceded it with a warning:

¹⁵Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

It’s a warning against selfishness.

A brother sent me this:

“Having dismissed our selfishness as a relatively benign disorder, we are free to keep our focus on what really matters to self-centered people: the immediate quality of our lives. Finding a way to heal our wounds and restore a sense of personal wholeness continues to be a far more pressing concern than knowing the escape route from judgment and the One who provided it. And the disease continues unchecked, ruining relationships and carrying us toward certain judgment.”

Our selfishness becomes the driving force behind all of our thoughts and actions, seeking to cover our guilt, shame, and spiritual depravity that occurs when we turn from God and depend on our own power and wisdom. We turn to possessions to make us happy, that is, to make us feel happy.

¹⁶And Jesus told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said:

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Life happens. Most of it is not very much fun, is terribly stressful, annoying, aggravating, unforgiving, and very, very tedious.

I believe that God, through Jesus Christ, gives us the ability to deal with Life, and through His Word gives us the tools, the wisdom, the insight, and the courage to do so. Not only that, but He gives to us the Holy Spirit– His Spirit – who woos us to Christ, convicts us of wrong-doing (sin), guides us to do what we need to do to become “rich toward God” and leads us to fellowship with Christ and other believers.  His forgiveness is for those who are truly sorry for their sin, and ask Him to forgive them.

Yes, Life happens. But we need not go it alone.