The Good Life
Everyone on earth is searching for a good and meaningful life. We all want our lives to be filled with purpose and fulfillment. We all want our lives to matter. But we often search for fulfillment and meaning through things that cannot fulfill us.
Many people try to find purpose in fame and admiration from people. Others try to find fulfillment through material possessions. Still others pursue a good life through working hard and building security through wealth.
The truth is, none of those methods will bring true happiness or fulfillment in life. There will come a time when fame and fortune fade, when material possessions lose their charm, and when our security is no longer there.
Jesus says that the enemy will always try to steal our attention away from what truly matters by distracting us with earthly things. But this way only ends in death and destruction. Jesus says there is another way to find a truly good life.
In John 10, Jesus compares Himself to a good shepherd who cares for and feeds the sheep in His pasture. Jesus says that He is the gate for the sheep to enter into the courtyard. While speaking in metaphors, Jesus is saying that anyone who wants to gain true access to salvation must come through Him.
Jesus also says that it is through Him that we will find true life. It is only through trusting in Jesus and following Him that we can experience life to the fullest. Fulfillment and doesn't come from possessions or wealth or status or security. It comes through following Jesus as our Shepherd.
Take some time to think about the way you’re searching for fulfillment, for meaning in your life. Are you finding it through things of this world? Or are you following Jesus and trusting in Him to produce meaning and purpose in your life?
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and He wants to lead you into a fulfilled, abundant life. So continue to trust in Him and follow Him. Life with Jesus is the good life.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...