Garrison Keillor – “Thank you, God, for this good life, and forgive us if we don’t love it enough.”
Keillor was right. We often fail to appreciate and even love the life and blessings that we have from God. Looking at the headlines lately has brought that home to me in many ways: The political turmoil in Afghanistan; the recent earthquake and flooding in Haiti; the flooding in middle Tennessee; the resurgence of the COVID pandemic. All of these are reminders that we are blessed. In so many ways, we live The Good Life.
Part of the problem may be in how we define “the good life.” I Googled that phrase, and the first hit was from Merriam-Webster.com. It gave two definitions of “the good life,” the first of which was, “the kind of life that people with a lot of money are able to have.” I should note that at the beginning of that definition were the letters “US” in italics, meaning that this is the primary definition for literate adults in the USA. The second definition is more what I would have expected, “a happy and enjoyable life.”
The truth is, Americans equate The Good Life with material prosperity. But for Christians, that’s a slippery slope at best. Jesus himself warned, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Luke 12.15). For God’s people, The Good Life has little to do with wealth.
A better perspective is provided by King David in Psalm 16.5-6, when he said, “The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.” It sounds like David is talking about the Israelite land inheritance. But a closer look suggests that he’s using that as a metaphor for something else, for his relationship to God. He says in verse 5, “The LORD is the portion of my inheritance.” David wasn’t thinking about land; he was thinking about the Lord.
That’s reinforced in verse 2: “I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good besides You.” For David, The Good Life was life in relationship with God, a godward orientation in life.
Once we understand that having The Good Life is not dependent upon money, possessions, or circumstances, it helps us see the blessings we have. It also keeps us from constantly fretting about what we don’t have. Despite any problems we may have, in Christ we have THE ultimate good life. Let’s thank God for that, enjoy it, and share it with others.
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