Life as We Know it

How many of us, our everyday lives are driven by fear?  Instead of being proactive we are reactive in every situation.  We do things out of fear of getting in trouble, losing our job or so that others might be pleased with us.  Instead of being on the offense we are living on the defense.  No wonder we are so stressed and burned out.  Exhausted and unfulfilled.  Who are we really living for, others, ourselves?  Are we finding any pleasure in anything?  And for most of us, the only place we find pleasure is in having a satisfying meal.  What a pitiful existence called life.

Have you ever felt this way?  Wondered why there wasn't more meaning in everyday life?  The real question is who are you living for?  Yourself, someone else or maybe you've been so busy, you haven't had much time to think about it.  In John 10:10b Jesus says, "I have come that they may have life, and the they may have it more abundantly." And in John 5:40 Jesus says, "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life."  So if coming to Jesus gives us life, what are we living without Him?  Our own attempt at what we think is life?  I think a lot of us think of life and eternal life as two different things.  We believe that what we are born into is just dictated by things that happen to us and things that we encounter.  While eternal life is something that Jesus Christ offers to those who want to live a good life here and then go on to live with Him in heaven. What I'm here to tell you today is that you are not really living until you are living the good life in Christ.  He turns what is ordinary into extraordinary.  When you ask Him to come into your life and give Him your heart, you then begin to live eternal life with Him now, not just after you die.  He has plans for you now as it says in Jeremiah 29:11.  Don't you want to know what those are?  Not knowing what is in the future for me, it would definitely be to my advantage to follow God's plans and thereby avoid many pitfalls that might take me down the wrong path.  How much easier is that to follow the One who knows my future and my desires and has laid out a good life for me.  So why keep guessing at what to do next?  Trust Jesus today and start living.