This coming sunday we'll be concluding a short sunday morning conversation called Mmm, Mmm Good, where we've been looking at the book of 1 Peter, specifically how God calls us to live good lives. Interestingly, the context of 1 Peter was christ-followers suffering persecution from a government and society, based on a misrepresentation on behalf of the Emperor Nero, of people who followed Christ. Today, Christ followers are also often misrepresented, but consistently by our own actions. We don't experientially understand persecution in the states (religiously/spiritually). And just about any misrepresentation we deal with is from "our own" that say stupid stuff on national TV, or in their statements of faith, which cause the rest of us to have to apologize to our not-yet-believing friends and continue to try and redefine what it means to be a Christ-follower (case in point; my use of the term Christ-follower rather than Christian as to disassociate from that sub-culture).
Also interesting is our typical thought pattern when someone mentions the "good life". I think of a couple things. People in the cigar culture use the term "the good life" often to demonstrate the enjoyment of the fine things in life. Good cigars, good drinks, good times, etc. I also think of that tee shirt company called "Life is Good". These tees are usually found in a store like REI, or Galyan's where you go to outfit yourself for fun in the outdoors. Life is good, so they say, because of our leisure time. In other words, our thoughts on living good lives tend to drift towards our time away from the hustle and bustle, or to relaxation, enjoyment, simple pleasures, and extravagancies.
Now, I'm not going to say that there's anything wrong with any of these. I too enjoy a fine cigar from time to time, and I love being outdoors, fishing, kayaking, laying on the beach or climbing a mountain. Those are all great things. But those aren't the essence of what Peter was talking about in his letter. Peter wrote for one primary purpose; that people would see and savor Jesus. He wanted people to live such good lives in the viewpoint of those who did not recognize Jesus for who he was that they would be captured by the way these followers of Jesus lived and be brought closer in their journey to God. How did they demonstrate these good lives? By leisure? Not necessarily. They demonstrated..and lived...the good life based on relationships. How they related to their culture. How they related to their spouses. How they related to each other. The key to the good life..the life lived for the sake of others...is our interest and investment in the people around us. When our relationships are good, life is good.
Amen. When God is present in a relationship,Life is Good. I like this one, good job.
Posted by: Myrna | July 25, 2008 at 10:20 PM
So true, with good relationships come good lives. And since God is in all good things, then even better. Do we dare ask for more?
Posted by: Camille | July 27, 2008 at 12:20 PM
i think we can ask for more wisdom on how to have better relationships.
Posted by: chad | July 28, 2008 at 08:48 AM
great answer, will do!
Posted by: Camille | July 28, 2008 at 10:14 AM
great answer, will do!
Posted by: Camille | July 28, 2008 at 10:16 AM