MAKING THE BEST OUT OF LIFE
Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
INTRO.- Making the best out of life. Most people want the best they can get out of life. How do we get it?
ILL.- Some people are shooting for the stars! In TOKYO, Japan, people are hoping to win the lottery jackpot by consulting a zodiac chart before forking out money for a ticket. A survey of 3,515 lottery winners revealed that those born under the star sign of Capricorn were the most likely to win, followed by Aquarius and Pisces. Least likely to hit the jackpot were people born under the sign of Gemini, according to the survey.
Fortune-telling is a thriving industry in Japan, with everything from blood group to sushi preferences used to make predictions.
Brothers and sisters, what do you think of this or make of this? I think it’s a big joke, but not to some people. Consulting your horoscope or some fortune-teller is not the way to win the lottery nor to make the best out of life! But consulting the Giver of life is certainly the way to a better life!
ILL.- Are most people happy with their life? Dennis Wholey, author of Are You Happy? reports that according to expert opinion, perhaps only 20 percent of Americans are happy. Those experts would probably agree with the definition of happiness offered by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, who said, "Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children and by children to adults."
ILL.- Six weeks before he died, a reporter asked Elvis Presley, "Elvis, when you first started playing music, you said you wanted to be rich, famous and happy. Are you happy?" "I’m lonely as hell" he replied.
Most of us have discovered that happiness is not found in things nor in accomplishments. Things don’t thrill and accomplishments don’t achieve.
ILL.- In 1968 I ordered a new Pontiac Firebird with a 400 cubic inch, 330 horsepower, 4-speed transmission, 160 mph on the speedometer. It was nice. It was powerful. It was fast, but the thrill didn’t last. Things don’t thrill. Or at least, eventually the thrill fades away.
ILL.- In June of 1990, I probably ran my best marathon (26.2 miles) considering the weather conditions. The weather in Duluth, MN, was a high of 75 degrees that day (not good marathoning weather. 40 is more like it). Out of approximately 5,500 runners I finished about 140th overall. Only 237 runners finished under 3 hours. My time was two hours and 54 minutes or an average of 6 minutes and 40 seconds a mile. Not bad for a 45 year-old male. But certain worldly accomplishments don’t achieve! They don’t achieve any lasting results...any lasting spiritual results. I never talked to anybody that day about Christ. I never witnessed to anybody. I never baptized anybody.
I ran for hours alongside Lake Superior and not one runner came up to me and said (as the eunuch did to Philip in Acts 8), "Why can’t I be baptized?"
Generally, worldly accomplishments don’t achieve spiritual results. Happiness is not found in things nor accomplishments. And on the other side of the coin we find that many people are not very happy with their lives for one negative reason or another: family troubles, kid problems, work life, financial struggles, poor health, fear, etc.
Are you happy? You may never be completely happy in this life or with your life. But if there is any happiness or joy to be found, it is in the Lord!
ILL.- I like the story about the 92 year old lady who was very contented with her life. Another lady wrote these words about her: "She is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair brushed, and her makeup perfectly applied, in spite of the fact she is legally blind. Today she has moved to a nursing home. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making this move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, where I am employed, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready.
"As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet curtains that had been hung on her window. ‘I love it,’ she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
"’Mrs.. Jones, you haven’t seen the room ... just wait,’" I said. Then she spoke these words that I will never forget. ‘That does not have anything to do with it,’ she gently replied. ‘Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not does not depend on how the furniture is arranged. It is how I arrange my mind. I have already decided to love it. It is a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice. I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do work. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I will focus on the new day and all of the happy memories I have stored away...just for this time in my life. Age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you have already put in.’"
Right on, lady! It’s not how our lives are arranged that makes the difference, but how our minds are arranged that will help us to get the most out of life!
Last Lord’s Day I shared two Biblical principles about how to make the best of our lives. They were: 1- Walk by faith 2- Focus on people. In other words, get your focus off yourself! Instead, focus on the Lord and on people!
PROP.- I want to share several more Biblical principles to help us make the best out of life.
1- See the positive
2- Always be thankful
I. SEE THE POSITIVE
Phil. 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."
It’s obvious that the apostle Paul is telling us to think about good things in life. I think he is also telling us to see the good, the positive things in life instead of always looking at the negative side of things.
ILL.- A school boy brought home his report card. It was loaded with poor grades. "What do you have to say about this?" asked his father. "One thing for sure," the boy replied, "Dad, you can be proud. You know I haven’t been cheating!"
ILL.- Max Lucado tells the story about flying on a plane one time with a certain lady. He said, "She sat in 14E and I sat in 14D. She was rural and I was urban. She was homey and I was professional. But she could see and I was blind.
"I groaned. I had a bad attitude. My week had been hectic. The plane was late and overbooked. I had a toothache and had left the tooth medicine at the hotel. I wanted to sleep, but I had work to do. And now I was sitting next to Gomer Pyle’s mother.
"‘Oooh, boy, look at that one!’ She pointed at the plane ahead of us on the runway. ‘Is this one that big?’ ‘Yes,’ I hoped my brief response would show her that I wasn’t up for chitchat. It didn’t. ‘I’m hoping to see my boy in Dallas. Do you ever go to Dallas? I hope he’s OK. He had a stomach flu last week. He’s got a new dog. I can’t want to see it. It’s a Labrador. Do you know what that is? They are big and lovable...’
"She was uncanny. Not only could she add a syllable to every word, she could answer her own questions. As we were taking off, however, she got quiet. For several moments she said nothing. Then she suddenly let out a sound that would have called the pigs for dinner. ‘Oooooeeee, those trees down there look like peat moss!’ People around us stared like I was E. F. Hutton.
"’What river is that?’ I told her I didn’t know, so she flagged down a stewardess.
"When the drinks came around, I asked for a Coke; she asked for the list. ‘Tell me again?’ So the stewardess told her again, ‘Oh, it’s so hard to choose,’ she giggled. But she finally chose.
"When they brought her the drink, she exclaimed that she didn’t know apple juice came in cans. And when they brought her a sandwich, she opened the box and proclaimed loud enough for the pilot to hear, ‘Why, they even put mayonnaise in here.’
"When I pulled out my laptop computer, she was enthralled. ‘Now isn’t that clever.’ And that went on the whole flight. She didn’t miss a thing. If she wasn’t staring out the window, she was amazed by a magazine.
"If she wasn’t talking, she was ‘ooohing.’ She played with her fan. She turned her light on and off. She toyed with her seat belt. She savored her lunch. When we went through turbulence, I looked over at her to be sure she was all right, and she was grinning. You’d have thought she was riding the Ferris Wheel at the county fair!
"It occurred to me, about mid-journey, that she was the only person enjoying the trip. The rest of us, the ‘sophisticated,’ were too mature to have fun. And as I was staring at a computer screen -- eyes tired, mouth hurting, stressed-out, trying to find a message for stress-filled people and never noticing that the message was sitting beside me.
"And I might never have noticed had she not leaned over and said to me at the end of the flight. ‘Son, I may be out of place in saying this, but you’ve worked the entire trip. You need to relax, boy. You need to put that machine up and enjoy the journey.’ GULP."
"I smiled weakly and mumbled some excuse about needing to get the work done before tomorrow. But she wasn’t listening. She was squeezing her hands together in excitement as we landed. ‘Wasn’t that a fu-un trip?’ she asked as we were leaving the plane.
"I didn’t say anything. I just nodded and smiled. Off she walked, bouncing down the concourse as curious as a six-year-old. I watched her as long as I could, then turned to go to my next flight with a lesson learned. I resolved to keep my eyes open."
Lucado concluded, "It does little good, I decided, to make the trip and miss the journey."
Brothers and sisters, most of us are so caught up with the negative stuff of life that we fail to see the good, the positive, the blessings, the excitement and the enchantment of life.
Look around you. Stop and really look at what you have and what is around you. God has given you more than you realize. Think on these things. They will help you to make the best of your life.
II. ALWAYS BE THANKFUL
I Thess. 5:18 "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
This idea is very similar to the last point. Look for the positive and the good in life AND BE THANKFUL! If you see the good and the positive, give thanks! Be thankful to the people around you. Express it. Say it. Say it right now! And most of all, be thankful to God. Express it. Praise Him! Bless Him!
ILL.- Out West, a cowboy was driving down a dirt road, his dog riding in back of the pickup truck, his faithful horse in the trailer behind. He failed to negotiate a curve and had a terrible accident.
Sometime later, a highway patrol officer came on the scene. An animal lover, he saw the horse first. Realizing the serious nature of its injuries, he drew his service revolver and put the animal out of his misery. He walked around the accident and found the dog, also hurt critically. He couldn’t bear to hear it whine in pain, so he ended the dog’s suffering as well.
Finally he located the cowboy --who suffered multiple fractures--off in the weeds. "Hey, are you okay?" the cop asked. The cowboy took one look at the smoking revolver in the trooper’s hand and quickly replied, "Never felt better!"
There was a thankful cowboy. He had a lot to growl about, but considering his circumstances, he was thankful!
God is pleased with us when we are thankful to Him and to others. God is not pleased with us when we complain. And most of us complain far too much.
ILL.- A monk joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first 10 years his superior called him in and asked, "Do you have anything to say?" The monk replied, "Food bad." After another 10 years the monk again had opportunity to voice his thoughts. He said, "Bed hard." Another 10 years went by and again he was called in before his superior. When asked if he had anything to say, he responded, "I quit." The Superiod said, "It doesn’t surprise me a bit. You’ve done nothing but complain ever since you got here."
The truth is, most of us complain too much. We don’t like this. We don’t like that. We gripe, complain, scowl, screech, squawk, scream, and squeal. But it doesn’t do us any good, nor anyone else. All it does is make us more negative and nasty, and push people away. The aroma of Christ in us is gratitude, not griping.
ILL.- Mark Twain is reported to have said, "Don’t complain and talk about all your problems--80 percent of people don’t care; the other 20 percent will think you deserve them."
ILL.- A young man was proposing to his girlfriend. "Honey, I love you, but I wish I could give you the things my friend Benny has -- boats, cars, airplanes -- but honey, I really love you." She replied, "I love you too, baby, but tell me more about Benny."
Brothers and sisters, we may not have boats, cars, airplanes, and lots of money, but we have plenty and God wants us to be thankful!
I Tim. 6:17 "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."
We’re all blessed! But some people are more aware of it than others!
ILL.- I talked to a lady the other day who lives in a house trailer with no electricity. But she was thankful. She was thankful that her neighbor ran an electric extension cord to her trailer so she could have electricity to her frig and to a fan.
That lady didn’t have a job, but she was thankful. You see, the next day she was going to work in the mall for $6.50 an hour.
We all need to be more thankful! And being thankful is something that God wants out of us and it will help us to make the best out of life.
CONCLUSION-----------------------------------
ILL.- In England, there is a paper factory that makes some of the finest stationery in the world. One day, a man touring the factory asked what it was made from. He was shown a huge pile of old rags and told that the rag content was what determined the quality of the paper. The visitor couldn’t believe it.
In a matter of weeks he received from the company a package of paper with his initials embossed on it. On the top piece were written the words, "Dirty Rags Transformed."
The same is true of the Christian life. Only Jesus can transform our lives from what we were, into something new and wonderful. And once we experience the transformation process life begins to get better. Through Christ we can make the best out of our lives.
