As I was growing up I
sometimes would wonder what I wanted to be. As I got older I decided that I
needed to be a successful person no matter what I became. I believe that this
is the dream of most all people. Everyone wants to be happy and rich…
Although most everyone wants
to be a doctor, lawyer, policeman or fireman, so to speak, I am not so sure
that people say, “I want a life worth living”. That just sounds so serious and
as a child or teen you are most likely never that serious… but your parents
are… You can see your father or mother standing there with their arms crossed
looking over their granny glasses at you and saying, “Boy (or girl) whatcha
gonna do with your life!?” For me I think it was more like this, “Boy if you
don’t straighten up your going to go to jail…” J Well even though I did hear that a time or two, I
really wasn’t that bad, at least where the law is concerned. The biggest
problem was that I could not make up my mind.
So, what is a life worth
living? When I studied this concept I came up with a few answers; keep in mind
that any or all of these are not necessarily correct answers.
1) Life worth living is a life
of success in the work force.
2) Life worth living is a
life lived with wealth.
3) Life worth living is a
life lived in a big house and you, your spouse, and your kids are liked by all.
4) Life worth living is a
life lived in a huge church and you are in the best groups of people with lots
of friends.
Well there are a lot more
answers than those but what do you think the answer is? If you have any or all
of the above, is it a life worth living?
In Psalm’s 37: 4 it says “Delight
yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
There is another answer that I want to share with you to the question above;
what is a life worth living. 30 years ago my wife and I took a vow. It was the
vows of marriage. When we took those vows of marriage we took them in the
presence of God. We decided back then that we would attend church and try to
live up to God’s expectations rather than that of our families or friends
expectations. So when our first born son was born we gave him over to God as we
also did when our second son was born. We are by no means perfect… actually far
from it. Our boys are far from perfect as well. The one thing we strived to do
is to live our lives for our Lord and Savior; to try to delight ourselves in
the Lord. God may have not given us everything we asked for but He did give us
what we needed. A life lived for God means that we will have sacrifices along
the way.
Now to the answer; to live a
life worth living you will need a couple of things. First you will need Jesus
as your Savior. Second you will need to decide whether you want a successful
life or not. Many people will give up or quite because life is hard, marriage
is hard. As the wise words of a coach I know, he said “Suck it up and move on”.
Success is not measured by your net worth or what you have; it is measured by
how others love and see you. Last year in a blog about our son going off to
college, I wrote that we had put our lives on hold so that we could be a major
part or our boy’s lives. The sacrifice was putting our wants aside and living
for God and our children. Success is having two boys that love us and are God
fearing. Boys that will come to us when they are afraid, hurt or in trouble.
A life worth living is a life
dedicated to God, country and family. It is finishing the race knowing that you
did your best and that the fruits of your labor are going down the narrow road
and facing upward toward their God. It
is not about being self righteous; it is about being humble before our Creator.
“The Greatest
Adventure in Life is seen Through the Love of Christ”
Bro John 501-262-0015
