A Life Worth Living

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The Game of Life

How many of us have ever looked at our lives and thought, “Is this all there is? Shouldn’t there be more?”

Everyone in this room is technically alive.

We breathe

Our heart is beating.

Our brain is functioning normally—at least for most of us!

We have all been taught how to take care of ourselves.

We are taught about diet and good eating habits.

We are taught about exercise.

We are taught about the importance of getting proper rest.

We are even taught about the dangers of smoking cigarettes and abusing drugs and alcohol.

But there is so much more to life than just having a living body.

Deep inside, all of us know that life is more than just counting our heartbeats.

Each of us wants to enjoy life.

Everybody out there has advice on how to do that.

There are so many books available with teaching on how to enjoy life to the fullest.

We look at people in television and magazines who seem to have the ideal life.

But if having a good life seems so easy, why do so many people seem unable to have a good life?

What Do You Live For?

When you ask people what they want out of life, everyone has a slightly different answer.

Some of you probably would like to travel the world.

Some of you would like to do something exciting and slightly dangerous.

Some of you want fame.

Is there anyone in here who would not like to have lots of money?

Some want an exciting career filled with interesting challenges.

And maybe for some of you, a good life is just a quiet life with a nice home and a loving family.

I think everyone here would say you want to feel that you are contributing something useful to the world.

Living For the Moment

Of course some people only care about having fun at this moment.

That’s what most beer commercials would tell us.

The common advice of this world is to live for this moment.

We are told that life is short, so you should live hard, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse.

The problem with this advice is that it treats life as though there are no lasting consequences.

The fact is that every step you take leaves a footprint in the path of your life.

If we live as though we are going to die young, what happens if we are wrong?

We could end up living a very long time.

Young people are constantly asking, “What’s the big deal?”

It looks so cool now, and you are young and strong now, but if they would only think it through to what their choices now will lead to later in life.

My dad started smoking when he was 12.

Sixty years later, he was in a hospital slowly suffocating.

Even though he could breathe, his lungs were damaged enough that they could no longer take the oxygen and put it in his bloodstream.

Smoking doesn’t just kill you with cancer.

And the consequences can affect more than just ourselves.

We can hurt our families and friends.

My mom had a brother, Charles.

Charles was always a fun person to be around. He loved having fun. When it stopped being fun, he moved on.

So he had fun with 7 different wives.

Each of these women were good women, who found it exciting to date a guy who was so much fun.

But the fun never lasted long.

He would go off to work every day and leave them to raise his sons.

Then he just wanted to have a good time when he came home. No responsibility.

At the end of his life, my uncle had a stroke.

He lost much of his memory.

All those good times were lost to him.

Instead, he just had a feeling of regret, and he didn’t know why.

His sons would go visit him at the hospital and try to connect with him.

It was hard, because even though they loved their dad, they never felt close to him.

Before he never had time for them.

Suddenly they were all he had in the world.

Every choice we make has a consequence, either good or bad. So we have to make wise choices.

People who only live for the moment are actually missing out on having the best life possible.

Is it wrong to have fun? No.

Is it wrong to have excitement? No.

Is it wrong to have adventure? No.

But these are only a part of life.

Life is more than just a constant adrenaline rush.

Life is filled with good times AND bad times.

As much as we hate the bad times, we cannot avoid them. Nor should we try to.

They help shape us

It is said you cannot appreciate the good until you have experienced the bad.

A Life Worth Living

A good life is a fulfilling life.

Jesus tells us that he wants to give us a life that is full—a life worth living.

What does it take to have a life worth living?

A life worth living is a life with purpose.

We know why we are here and where we are going.

We focus our soul and our will to following a certain path.

A life worth living is a life with power.

Power to face the challenges of this life.

Power to accomplish all that God gives you to do.

A life worth living is a life of passion.

I am not talking about romantic feelings.

I mean a life that you feel strongly about.

A life that is emotionally satisfying.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

God has given us intellect, and emotions to go with our physical bodies.

So it follows that if we are going to have a life worth living, God intends for life to be fulfilling in all these areas.

Over the next few weeks I want to talk about having a life worth living and will look more at these areas.

A life of purpose

A life of power

A life of passion.