A LIFE WORTH LIVING
It seems that everyone you talk to all have the same purpose in life – at least when it comes to this life upon the earth. Wrapped up in each of us is the desire to have a better quality of life. Everywhere you look people are consumed by their quest of the elusive “American Dream”. I say that it is elusive for we are never really satisfied by anything that this world has to offer. Within each of us there is a great desire for better things, for bigger homes, for better cars and for more of the finer things in life.
Yet there comes a time when the magnetism of earthly pleasures and possession of worldly goods seems to begin to grow dimmer and we loose some of our passion for obtaining them for we begin to realize that happiness in life, fulfillment in life, and the real meaning of life is not determined by what we possess at all. The happiness that we have in life is not determined by what we possess but by what, and who possesses us.
Wealth and possessions have no power to bring true happiness and satisfaction, all they can do is make your body comfortable while you still live in inward misery.
Happiness, satisfaction, joy, peace, love, and all of those wonderful things that every man would agree are the hallmarks of a wonderful and meaningful life, are not determined by what we own.
It seems that every man is chasing after that “good life” but so very few really love the life that they are living. We all seek for and pray for those “good days” that are the building blocks of the “good life” and yet life seems filled with turmoil, filled with troubles, and filled with disappointments.
At the end of the day, when our head finally hits the pillow, are we left with more questions than answers? Can we look back upon the events of the day that has now forever passed into history and say that this was a “good day”? Or, do we look back upon the day with despair and think, “God where were you today when I needed you?
Have you ever felt as though God has turned his face against you? Is everything in your life falling to pieces? Is the love that you once felt for other people being replaced with a “who cares” attitude? Are you already beginning to think that things must change quickly or you will have to make some changes yourself? Is the joy and peace gone from your home? Are your good days few and far between?
If you can answer “Yes” to any of these questions then this message is for you!
The Word of God speaks to every part of life: especially when we are searching for real meaning and for real joy and happiness! No other source can speak to these needs like God’s Word. No other source can give us reasons for the things we face every day and then turn them around to make sense out of them.
So, are you ready to know how to enjoy life and love life, regardless of what you are facing? Are you ready to allow God’s Word to speak to you in spite of all the garbage and negative circumstances that are surrounding you? Are you ready to hear what God has to say that will bring healing to your life and to bring you to the place that your life is worth living?
What this all boils down to in the end is the condition of the heart and the relationship we have with Jesus Christ! When life begins to lose its meaning, and when love begins to grow cold, and when everything around us begins to crack and crumble – it’s always the result of a spiritual problem.
I have seen families begin to disintegrate because one or more of the spouses begins to turn away from the ways of righteousness.
It all begins with a small crack in their foundation. Maybe it’s a little thing at first like not reading the Bible, or missing church, or allowing excuses to keep them from the House of God. That small crack quickly spreads and opens until there is a deep chasm in their relationship with God and when their relationship with God begins to crumble, everything else goes with it and life begins a downward spiral that can only be broken by repentance and the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ.
This morning I want to give you a roadmap that will lead you back to the place where you can enjoy life! I want to give you a path to walk that will bring peace into your home, joy into your heart and satisfaction to your soul.
1 Peter 3:10, "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
Amplified – For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days [good – whether apparent or not] keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from guile (treachery and deceit).
Let us begin this walk down the path to a joyful and good life by realizing that a joyful and good life does not mean that you will never again see trouble or heartache. Bad times and good times are a part of every life whether we serve God or not. The thing that determines whether life is good or bad is not those troubles but it is who is taking care of those troubles. If we are trusting only in our own power, there are few troubles that we can overcome, but if we are trusting in God, none of them can overcome us.
Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
You can still love life and have good days even when the days are not so good on the outward appearance. It may seem that everything is going down the drain but God is in charge of that drain. Somehow God can turn around your negative circumstances and make them a real blessing. The key is that before He can turn your troubles into blessing you must be called and working according to his purpose and not your own.
If we decide to disobey God, he is under no obligation to turn our disobedience into blessings. If we decide that we are going to turn away from him and live after the dictates of our own heart, God won’t overlook our sin and pour out his spirit upon us. He will turn his head away from our sin just as quickly as he turns away from any rank sinner on the street. God will never reward disobedience and sin. God will not turn every circumstance of your life around for good if you aren’t living the way he commands you to do. He will let you go your merry way until you finally reach the place like the prodigal son who realized his desperate condition and went running home.
Paul told the church in Corinth this concerning one of the wayward Christians of that church in 1 Corinthians 5:5, "…deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
That doesn’t sound like every circumstance of the life of that wayward Christian was going to be turned around to his good?
Just as it was for that prodigal son, and for that man of the Corinthian church, the troubles and terrible life that they faced while living in the grip of sin were not a blessing to them. Life was miserable. The prodigal son was hungry. His life of revelry and partying was empty and meaningless. His friends were gone as soon as his money was gone. When he could no longer buy the wine, and the wild life had run its course, and the alcohol had destroyed his life, and the opium of the wild parties had nearly destroyed his mind, he had come to the end of his rope and there was no where else to turn, he still had a choice to make. He could continue in his life of sin until it finally killed him or he could choose to turn around, repent and go back to his father.
The Prodigal Son made the right choice! Luke 15:16-17, "And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!"
Yes, he chose to go home and seek forgiveness and every negative circumstance of his life was turned around to be a blessing that brought him back home.
But, if he had never come to himself, realizing how far from home he had run, and decided to turn around and go home, he would have died right there in that pigpen. His whole life would have been wasted for nothing. His very existence would have had no meaning and he would have spent eternity regretting the day that he left home to chase after the “good life” in his own way.
It was only because he turned around and chose to live according to the will of his father that his circumstances were turned to his good. God won’t bless sin! He only blesses obedient children.
Earthly parents who are normal don’t reward their children for being disobedient. If your kid was sitting in the cart at the local store, screaming and throwing a temper tantrum, or running around throwing things off the shelf, and then kicking on you when you try to make them behave, you certainly wouldn’t go buy them a toy to reward them. That would only teach them that if they raise enough fuss, they will get a toy!
No sir, you take that child, leave everything at the store if you have to, take them home and apply the “board of education to the seat of knowledge” and teach them to behave. Then if they behave the next time you might reward them with a toy to teach them that if they behave they might get the blessing.
God isn’t ignorant like so many parents of our day who won’t correct their children for fear of hurting them. He knows that he must correct us for if he doesn’t that will hurt us more in the end.
1 Peter 3:11, Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil."
Amplified – Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peach (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]
Do you want the “good life” that only God can give? Do you want even your “bad days to become blessings and turn into “good days”? Do you want to be able to love life through all the garbage?
Then here is the road map to be able to love life and see those good days no matter what comes your way!
You have to do like the Prodigal Son and turn away from the pigpen of sin. Run from and get away as fast as you can from sins hold on your life and start living right. Get back to your Father in Heaven, fall on your face before him and seek forgiveness and deliverance.
You have to search with all your heart for that harmony of your soul with God, to find that place of peace and faith, without fear, that can only be found under the Blood of Christ. You have to seek after, desire and search for the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God to take the place of worldly passions and desires and get rid of every thing and everyone in your life that can remind you and drag you back into those places where you face conflicts with your past immorality and sin.
You have to do more than desire to have a right relationship with God and man; you have to run after it. You have to be the one to reach out and seek forgiveness from God. You have to be the one to seek out those that you have wounded in your family and friends and seek their forgiveness as well. You are the one who chose to allow sin to enter in and you are the one who must do your part to kick that sin out. God will forgive and so will other people in time, but neither will forgive until we do our part first.
It’s very likely that the father of the prodigal son knew where his son was the whole time. He had probably kept up with his son’s activities through the news that was brought to him from the neighbors and travelers that passed his way. He knew that his son was living in rebellion and wasting his life but the father knew that it was not in his power to make the choices for his son. He, like so many of us have to do right now, just had to sit by, pray for his son, and hope that one day, his son would turn around and come home to do what was right.
God knows where you are right now. He knows whether we are headed for the pigpen of sin or whether we are living in obedience to his Word.
God knows every circumstance, every trouble, every trial, everything you face, but He is not going to interfered with your free will to choose your own way if that’s what you want to do. Don’t expect God to strike you with a bolt of lightning and force you to give up your bad habits, to quit committing sin, and turn your life back to him. That has to be your choice. Only after you make the choice to get things right will God begin to turn your curse into a blessing.
1 Peter 3:12, "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil."
Amplified – For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (those who are upright, uncompromising and in right standing with God), and His ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who practice evil [to oppose them, to frustrate, and defeat them]
God watches over those who are his children. He leads them in the paths of righteousness and he hears their prayers. God’s greatest desire is to bless his obedient children. I believe that the greatest reason that most of God’s children don’t receive the answers to their prayers is that they are living in disobedience and secret sin.
It’s no wonder that we don’t pray anymore! We don’t pray because we don’t get an answer because we are unwilling to repent of sin and then that failure to pray only adds to our sin and God’s hand of blessing is stopped from reaching us for he cannot bless sin.
God’s face is against even his own children who willfully and continually live in sin. He turns away from those who choose to flaunt their sin in his face and still claim to be his children.
Do you want to experience the life that you can love? Do you want to see all of your days, even the bad days, turn into Good Days?
Then follow the roadmap of God’s Word and turn back to him. Chase the sin out of your life and then run down the blessings that God has waiting for you.
Only through living in obedience to the will of God for your life will you be able to life the Live Worth Living.
