So what makes a life worth living?
Welcome to “Word from The Center” MONDAY, a devotional word from the Center of our faith, Jesus Christ, with reflections on His Word. I’m Gregory Seltz. Today’s verse is John 10:10 where Jesus says,
“The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come to give you life and to give it to you abundantly.”
The following saying is often wrongly attributed to G.K. Chesterton: “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing — they believe in anything.” He actually said that if we stop believing in God we lose our common sense.[1] For many, that’s that same thing. When you deny the one who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6) and who calls Himself the “Good Shepherd” (John 11:11), you don’t replace Him with nothing; you tend to replace Him with the most absurd “other things.”
Absurd replacements seem to be the order of the day, don’t they? No longer do we talk about sin and repentance, grace and mercy, or honor and virtue. They’ve been replaced with so much absurdity in this world which is passed off as wisdom. In Washington D.C., they become slogans, causes for marches, and even policies. We are told that sex unconstrained, just for fun and outside of marriage, is the way of progress. Yet our broken marriages, our abuses of one another, and our callousness toward each other say otherwise. We are told that honoring our fathers and our mothers, as well as esteeming others in authority, is the way of the past. Yet the present dishonoring, even to the point of “cancel culture,” is producing more vitriol and violence than ever before. But the worst of the absurdities of today is the belief that we can replace the power of faith in God and His love for us in Jesus Christ with trust in ourselves, our technology, and our “progress,” with no honest assessment of the consequences.
In the face of such absurdities, Jesus’ words are straight and to the point. He lays it on the line in John 10. He talks of himself as the Good Shepherd, the one who comes to give life and salvation to His sheep (see John 10:11, 14, 27-28). But here’s the rub. For Him to be our Shepherd, we’ve got to be honest about the fact that we are like sheep in need of a shepherd. Let that sink in for a moment. Better, let that humble attitude of repentance be yours today. Don’t let the purveyors of absurdities steal that opportunity from you. For faith in Jesus Christ opens you up to the one who loves you with an everlasting love, who desires for you to become the person that He created and redeemed you to be. Repentance and faith, being right with God on God’s terms, serve as the foundation of abundant life, now and forever. As forgiven sinners, life then becomes a daily walk of grace that culminates in eternity. Faith in Him makes life worth living for you. Think it through for a minute. In Christ, God the Father wants you to be all that He created and redeemed to be, now and forever. Let the Good Shepherd save you, direct you, and lead you. That will be an adventure, and an abundant life that never ends. Here’s to life in His name FOR YOU!
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for Your willingness to confront me with the reality that I need You for my life and salvation. Like sheep who know their shepherd’s voice, give me the kind of faith that listens and follows your every Word. AMEN.
