Quantity or Quality?
March 31, 2024
Dr. Paul Cannings
Many times when we think about enjoying life, the focus seems to be how can we live a life that is blessed and highly-favored. This normally means whatever we set out to do gets blessed, whether it is job related, health, relationships, financial or our well-being. As a result when we think of how God explains gaining the life He died to provide, which is life and life abundantly (John 10:10), it seems hard and sometimes unnecessary.
A person once sat with their doctor and asked, ‘what does it take to live a healthy life.’ The doctor responded by saying they need to exercise at least three days a week for at least 30 minutes, they need to eat a healthy diet, nothing after 6 pm, get at least eight hours of sleep per night, no smoking, not a lot of alcohol and no drugs. The person’s response to the doctor was, “how do I have any fun with that list.” The doctor said, “If fun (provided their perspective) is your goal, working a stressful job to make a lot of money, creating bad eating habits, and little exercise, then a healthy life may not become your reality.”
Many times we state that we would love to live blessed and the Lord says Amen, Amen! He states that He provides this when we reverence Him with our decision-making and lifestyle (Psalm 112:1-3). When we live a life of wisdom gained through prayer (James 1:5-9) and by His knowledge (Proverbs 24:3-4), He will bless us with riches. We also state that we would love for our families to be filled with peace and love. Christ response is that this can be gained through the growth of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Ephesians 3:14-21), the Holy Spirit that He has faithfully placed in us at the point of salvation (Titus 3:4-8) and He will sustain until the rapture (Ephesians 1:13-14) or our passing (John 14:16-17). However in order for the Spirit to rule our lives we must deny ourselves (Luke 14:26-27), renew our minds (Romans 12:2) and practice the Word of God (Hebrews 5:14). When we walk with God in this manner we become drunk with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-18). This leads to the husband in the home becoming like Christ, the wife, the church, or the single mom sanctifying the home (1 Corinthians 7:14), and therefore protecting the children. These are some of the results of healthy spiritual living. This is why Christ died (John 10:10). God’s desire is to bless us with a rich life both on earth and in heaven, but like the doctor’s answer do we want quantity or quality? Quantity alone can make us poor in heaven (Revelation 3:15-18), whereas a quality life can make us rich on earth and heaven.
Be blessed by the life for which Christ willingly died to provide. Resurrection day should be celebrated all year.
Happy Easter/Resurrection Day!!