LIFE is GOOD?

Life Is Good.

That slogan has made me cringe and inhabited my mind , dredging up murky questions.

It seems so blithe and innocent. Like a perfectly loved summer child.

But where is the goodness of life in pain? In terminal illness? In lethal disorder?

Life is good for my just turned two year old. He blows out candles and runs into Daddy’s arms and eats cookies. He laughs and crys and tells me where his ouchies are.  He insists on his monkey pajamas and begs for juice. He whirls around corners on his trike and writes long pages of tiny squiggles. He talks and laughs and feeds the rabbit.

But how can life be good for the single Mom struggling with all her energy and power to make ends meet?  Or the single Dad juggling work and house and kids? For the children that miss their parents dreadfully? For the little ones, starving, or beaten; abused, or spoiled rotten? For the soul that has been crushed again and has no strength to get up? For the hospital rooms full of sick beds and the countless homes facing life and death.

And how in the WORLD can  people walk confidently around in the streets with ‘Life Is Good’ em-blazed on their t shirts? Do they actually have such a happy carefree life that they can honestly say that Life Is Good?

Or  could it be that they have  chosen to rise above circumstances and embrace hope and bear evidence of a Good Life  among the ruins of our universe?

Hundreds of years ago, a man named Paul was stoned by religious folks, dragged outside the city, and left for dead.  Disciples of God gathered around him, and he stood up and walked back into that same city. The next day, he left with a friend to share the Good news of salvation, and the power of God to more folks in other cities.

I can’t imagine that ‘Life Is Good’ really described Paul’s life. What is good about being hated? Knocked unconscious with  brutal rocks? Dragged out of a city that God led you to? Being ‘rewarded’ for following God with excruciating pain? Making enemies when you only wanted to share God’s love?

And yet, when Paul got home , he was rejoicing in everything God had accomplished through them, fully believing with joyful trust that He is Christ, the Messiah…the reason that

LIFE IS GOOD.

Because Life is a gift from God.

And God is Good.

Circumstances in life can be really crummy and they really truly stink and sometimes you really, really don’t want to go through the effort it takes to keep breathing and the discomfort and pain and fear that are inevitable. Life sometimes falls apart and shakes the very roots of your soul with it’s terrifying tremors. Voices of doubt declare that you’re too messed up and a total failure.

And the very sight of a ‘Life Is Good’ slogan makes you shake your fist.

Stop a minute and believe the ONE thing will always be true.

NOTHING!  

NOTHING!

will change it.

God is Good.

because of Him,

Life really IS Good!

Praying you would have the courage to choose the GOOD LIFE today.