Whether you believe in God or not, this conclusion makes great sense.
Don’t mean to start on such a serious subject, but for some thinking about death and/or life after death might be a rough ride. Right? People you know will approach the subject of death from multiple angles. Most people I know believe in God, the Father of Jesus Christ, and trust what the Bible says about life, death, forgiveness, heaven, and hell. Others are leaving their eternal destiny to chance. They hope that they will be good enough for God to simply give them a pass into heaven because they’ve “never killed anyone” and they “have been good people”. A few in my acquaintance don’t believe eternity exists and have sided with The Beatles who sang, “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky.”
Whatever category or variation on these 3 themes you hold, one thing is for sure. It is so much better to live a good life, love people, forgive others, attempt to restore relationships and leave a good reputation and worthwhile heritage for spouse, friends, and children to respect and emulate. Can you understand why I would say that?
It only makes sense that we should not live selfishly while we are earthbound. Living selfishly stops or prevents loving relationships. Oh, I don’t mean you can’t have fun. You can….for a while, at least until the people you are using get tired of giving without receiving much in return or they grow weary of trying to live in a 50-50 relationship.
Or what if you are self-reliant? Is that any better than being a selfish person, as far as trying to have a happy, meaningful life? I say, “No, it isn’t.” Self-reliant people live “not needing anyone else”. That’s ridiculous. Of course, we need others – materially, emotionally, and spiritually. No person is completely independent. Even if we get off the grid, we still will use tools made by others, skills we learned from other in books or YouTube videos, and may come to grips with how difficult it is to live with no human contact for long periods of time. The History Channel’s “Alone” series is evidence of that for most of their participants.
Questions:
1. Have you ever tried to have a good relationship with a selfish person? How’d it go or how’s it going?
2. Have you ever tried to have a relationship with a self-reliant person? How’d it go or how’s it going?
The truth is that you and I, and everyone you know is needy. We are needy physically. Some of those needs we can meet on our own, but most of them require another person or team of people to meet even the most basic needs. Food is a great example. You can grow it and cook it or hunt it and skin it, but more than likely your food comes mostly from a store, from farmers and ranchers, from orchards and crops you had little or nothing to do with.
Water,, how about that? Water is another great example of a team of people and many resources coming together to meet your physical need for water. You may be aware how difficult life is elsewhere in the world where clean water is in short supply or non-existent.
Health. Consider that aspect of life. How much we need help in this area! Medicines, instruments, machines, hospitals, personnel, and procedures are available to help us stay or become healthier. Even if you won the gene-pool lottery from healthy parents, they contributed to your health, and you had nothing to do with that aspect of health.
So what am I saying. I am saying that even if you don’t believe in heaven or hell or life after death, you can’t really know that for sure. If you are taking the risk of not finding out what God says about it in the Bible, you would be wise to still live as good and self-less a life as possible while you are here. You know why, too, don’t you? Research tells us that the happiest people are those who are loving and kind, who put others above themselves, and who work at great relationships. People who are forgiving and who keep their relationship conflicts to a minimum are healthier. Why do you think doctors ask questions about relationships, work satisfaction, thoughts of depression or suicide, and other emotional or relationally-based questions on their intake forms?
I have one final thought. You and I both know that we can’t and won’t live completely selfless lives. We don’t have it in us without some outside assistance. We will by nature either think we don’t need other’s help, think we can meet our own needs, or become so dependent on another person to meet our needs that we will take what we can and make sure our own needs and wants are being met. I am saying that is no way to live this life successfully, abundantly.
The help we need is from God Himself. He offers to give us new life and the power of His spirit living in us to change us from who we are now into the man or woman He designed us to be. He has a plan. It works because no one can encounter the living God, place their life into His hands, trust His Son Jesus Christ to forgive sin and not change. We will change. He will change us. Want to know how?