What is the good life? I’ve been thinking a lot about this question recently.
If you could do any job but the paycheck didn’t matter what would you do? What would you do with a million dollars? These are fun questions to ask, but in many ways get us thinking about what it means to live “the good life”. You know, “the pursuit of happiness”, if nothing got in my way.
Our answer to the question “what is the good life?” is the motive for what we do in life. We are pulled towards work, family, faith, charity, pleasure, and more. All vying for our attention and time with the lure “this is what is good.” As parents, we feel this pressure, we don’t want to mess up the chance we have to give our kids this “good life” and so we try to give them the best opportunities possible both now and for their future.
Jesus encounters a rich man in Matthew 19 who asks what “good deed” do I need to do to inherit eternal life? Underlying this question is a thought about his eternal future, but that is probably so his mind is eased today. This question may show up today as, “How can I live a long life?” Or “How can I be fulfilled?” Jesus tells the man to obey God’s laws, to which point the man essentially says, “I’ve lived a good life, I haven’t killed anyone or robbed a bank or cheated on my wife.” Jesus says, ok, go sell all your stuff and follow me. Verse 22 says “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful.”
Most of the times I’ve heard this preached it has been about materialism or wealth. Sure, that’s there, but I think the deeper issue has to do with this man’s heart. He wanted this good life, forever life, that Jesus the good teacher was offering, until he found out it would cost him. He would have to trust Jesus’ path to a good life instead of the culture’s or his own path to happiness.
Jesus talks about this in what we call the beatitudes. They all begin with “blessed” or “happy” is the one who…. But we discover that those things include suffering, mourning, giving, being humble and more things that aren’t widely considered “good”. Who can do all this? Well that’s the good news: None of us can! But we can get a heart renovation, actually it’s a whole new thing (elsewhere in the Bible the trade is a heart of stone for one of flesh). With this, God leads us to experience not only a good life, but the life we were intended for.
Micah 6:8 says “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” The good life? It’s about walking with God, trusting his ways, and acting in ways that allow others to experience this good life. Justice, kindness, humility? These are ways I can live that consider others and their needs and interests ahead of mine. A life that sees the higher good in God’s way before my way.
I used to hear people say that if you want to discover what is important to a family, look at their checkbook. But nowadays, you could look at the family’s Google Calendar and see what is important; what the higher goods in their life are, what gets priority on the schedule. Most of those things are probably good. But what is your “why” for them being there over something else? With a few months of a clear calendar (except for zoom call after zoom call…) I wonder, what makes the Google Calendar cut for the future? What about you? What about your family?
How do you define the good life? What hopes do you have for your children? How are you going about discovering if the path you’re on is leading you to joy or leaving you sorry?
