Throughout my five years at LAC, I have often made the point that Jesus did not come to this world to ruin our lives but to make possible the life for which God created us. You've heard me preach this message: "Jesus did not give his life to destroy ours! Other things come into this world and promise to give us fulfillment, but, as Jesus said in John 10, 'They steal, kill, and destroy.' Jesus came to give his life so that we might have life to the full" (Jn. 10:10
I believe that Genesis 1–2 describes how our Creator intended life to be lived—i.e., with all people in right relationship to God, to self, to others, and to all creation. What we see when all of those relationships are in order is a life of shalom, a life that flourishes. It's what we all long for, isn't it? This thought is not original to me. The clearest presentation I ever read about this biblical teaching is from a lecture given at Seattle Pacific University in the 1980s by Nicholas Wolterstorff. Prof. Wolterstorff tied the concept of human flourishing in the Bible to the Hebrew notion of shalom. He pointed out that shalom is not merely peace as we think about peace in our society. He said, "A flourishing life is neither merely an 'experientially satisfying life,' as many contemporary Westerners think, nor is it simply a life 'well-lived,' as a majority of ancient Western philosophers have claimed." He said that a shalom-filled is a life that both goes well and is lived well. Again, I think of a shalom-filled life as a life lived as the Creator created life to be lived.
The absolutely essential thing for a shalom-filled life is, according to Jesus, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mk. 12:30). God must be first. If we will flourish, we must all start with the 1st Commandment, i.e., nothing can be put in God's place. I have talked about this often.
What the Lord has put on my heart all week is the flip side of that teaching: that when we allow anything else to rule our lives, we will not flourish. Those other "anythings" may promise so much, but they cannot deliver on their promises. We will see that message communicated powerfully as we study Mark 1:29–45 this weekend.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor