Living the Good Life, Truly

In urging the Corinthians to live the full-grace life, the Apostle Paul says: “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” ~2 Corinthians 6:2b (NRSV).

The Problem and The Opportunity

Many a Christian person, including those who were ‘once saved’ but now no longer call Jesus their God, have by the way they live their lives given up on the existence called ‘discipleship’—it’s too hard.

It requires too much sacrifice; too much surrender... apparently.

Sight is lost of the untold benefit that swings the way of the genuine believer—because somehow they know that if they don’t surrender to Christ, they will surrender to something, or more appropriately many things, far worse.

The problem is one of surrender; to refuse, unconsciously, to be reconciled to God.

Being Reconciled to God

Earlier, in chapter 5 of Second Corinthians, Paul puts it plainly, in verse 20: “... we entreat you on behalf of Christ; be reconciled to God.”

And what is the reason for such an entreaty? Simple; the sinless Lord was made to be sin so that we could be made pure.

If ever we lose grasp over the power to live the full-grace life—where we find the world’s way just too enticing—and we will—we’re reminded in a flash of the essence of what it cost to put us where we are: blemish-and-wrinkle free.

Being reconciled to God is as easy as understanding the truth, afresh, in prayerful reflection, to let God search our hearts, and to simply repent.

Repentance is an art that too few are especially good at; the Lord’s desire, on the other hand, is to convince us of the eternal power retrieved in surrendering to God.

Living the good life is to know, and ascribe to, the wisdom of surrendering all before God. Only when we lose the puny world’s power—that which promises much, yet delivers astoundingly little—will we stand to gain the irrefutable power of risen grace.

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Why surrender to God? It’s because we are made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. God accepts us in the regenerate state. With Jesus, ‘living the good life’ is turned on its head. To give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose is the deal of eternity.

As we dig deeper into God’s ‘good life’ we can, only then, begin to understand the bottomless fathoms of that mystery; goodness God has in no short supply.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.