Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Life is Good?

Hello Friends! 

Life is Good.  We hear this often enough.  A phrase toted about by people in a good mood, when everything in their life is falling into place and they couldn't be happier if they took a free flight to the moon. Right?  Life is Good.  There is even a company that makes their living mainly off this phrase with their apparel and accessories. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the stuff that company makes, I have a little backpack and a shirt of theirs and both are sweet, optimistic, and cute.  But here is my thought today, as this statement becomes more of a question: Life is Good?

What about Life is inherently Good?  Nothing.  Now before your eyes grow wide and you gasp in shock at this "pessimistic" pronouncement, let me explain my line of thinking here.

Life, in and of itself, is not good.  Think about it . . . how many times have you found yourself battered, broken, barely breathing and clinging on to the last piece of driftwood floating by you on the tumultuous "sea of life"?   How many times have you been dealt a sudden blow by "life" that you couldn't have seen coming in a million years?  What about when something dreadful has happened to you or to a loved one of yours and someone shrugs it off with a simple, "Yeah, well, that's life"??

Life, in and of itself, is rarely ever good.  That is just reality.  I have been there, seen that, and am sure you have too.

Now for the bright side of this thought: GOD IS GOOD.  God is Good ALL the time.  Life CAN be good because GOD is good.  Without God, life is nothing, life isn't pleasant, life is extremely far beyond difficult, life is often unkind, and even more often unfair.  Am I right?

So as you go about your day today, do us both a favor.  Don't simply think to yourself when things are looking up and the sun is shining and your relationships are smoothly sailing along, that "Life is Good," as if Life has any way to contribute anything worth having on its own.  Let me re-emphasize, on its own.  Rejoice in the fact that life is going well for you . . .but think about the ultimate fact that the only way our life is good is because we serve a God Who is inherently GOOD.  Think to yourself today, "God is good! That means my life is good! I can rejoice in God Who makes my life good!"  And give thanks to the One who makes our lives good.  Good even when the storms are raging, and when we are tossed about with the latest squall and feel like we cannot take another step in the right direction. Good when we wake up with a song in our heart and words of sweet encouragement on our lips. Without Him, the phrase Life is Good would be an appealing phrase but ultimately, a lie.


 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:16,17

(italics my are my own)

5 comments:

  1. That is a very insightful observation. Life is good because God is good. Without God, life is less than good, it is meaningless, because God alone is truly good. But because He is truly good, we can benefit from His goodness, and our lives can then be good. God has been good to me by giving me a good wife. :-)

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  2. Life can be good sometimes. But thankfully, God is good ALL the time. :D

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  4. i totally left out a word on my comment above so it said exactly what i didn't want it to say. let me try that again:

    without God everything is meaningless! i'm thankful we have life in Christ Jesus!!! amen.

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  5. @Joe: Thanks! And you're so sweet. I think one of the best ways God has been good to me is through giving me a good husband!

    @:Mrs. Pedersen: Life can be good. I was in no way trying to sound pessimistic, as you and I both know I tend toward optimistic much more heavily! But I think that without God, life isn't so good and sometimes, downright rotten. ;)

    @Carissa: Thanks for stopping in! I agree! I am so thankful for life and a good life through Jesus! :)

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