Achieving the Good Life
July 1, 2023 2023-07-01 8:03Achieving the Good Life
Revlee Proverbs 21:21
21 Whoever pursues righteousness and love
finds life, prosperity and honor. (NIV)
The age-old philosophical question is what creates human flourishing. How does one find the ‘good life’ whatever that means? The world has presented its own philosophy. It is born into the ontological state of the human spirit infected by sin. But this philosophy, though it seems right, will end in destruction. Our passage today teaches us how to actually achieve the good life.
Righteousness is doing the right thing, but the deeper meaning is justice meaning we are to do the right thing by others. It is for this reason, the proverb combines righteousness with love. Love is doing what is right and just for others, what is best for them, all the time. Love moves the justice of others above our own. When we seek our own justice, we immediately make ourselves victims so focused on how we are not being treated fairly. We posture ourselves at odds with those we believe are being unfair. Relationships are broken down and we struggle to love others because it is hard to love others while we are hyper-sensitive to our own justice.
When righteousness and love are combined, we do the right thing prioritizing the spiritual well-being of others.
We live in the age of justice, but the justice of the world has been defined either by one’s own justice above others or it has been defined as doing acting to produce what other’s desire. But sin has created within us desires for unhealthy things. To help someone get or do what they want when we know it is not good for their soul is not love. So we love with righteousness.
To love in a harsh way, to use guilt or manipulation, is not love. It is not right. There is no justice in manipulating others. But when we love in righteousness, we speak the truth with patience, kindness, and without judgment or condemnation. This lifestyle enhances relationships, secures promotions, builds marriages, and strengthens family bonds. And therein we find human flourishing, the good life.
Prayer: Lord, help me to pursue love and righteousness trusting this will produce in my life more than I ever could have secured on my own.
Comments (2)
Sandra Alvarez
I’m in here finally it Just like most things in my life eyesight Just makes me work 10 times harder to get one simple little test done But when it’s done it feels wonderful this message that you Did today about love and justice It’s like you’re tearing into my life And you know I went from having $10,000 in my account To helping everybody around me making sure everybody’s okay and now I’m not okay and I can’t get nobody to give me not even $100 that’s not t Can I help me get some food It was it was a blessing to me my my problem right now is I need to fish to live The Expectation of looking for community help I don’t expect much I don’t expect much from the church I don’t expect much from the community I expect and hope and pray to God will open the door for me to get babysitting so I could go back to wo My goal is Really If I invest correctly If I can put money aside I want to help people In these situations Because There’s no more desperate time than Needing your rent paid because of these emergencies For your electricity Not having to wait days and hours weeks For somebody to say okay you’re desperate enough to to merit needing some help No nobody sees that for the past 89 years this disabled woman has paid all her bills by herself and helped others Nobody cares about that Not not what I’m in need It’s the thing that keeps ringing in my head is Just help me to be able to fish so I can take care of my family like the way God set me up to Yo God has provided through a famine Don’t think that I don’t I don’t take that for granted I thank you for sending the women to my house to feed me for a day I greatly appreciate it because I didn’I didn’t think anybody cared That feels my heart with so much joy I’ve been telling these women misala and I think Erica My situation hoping that they will tell the church hoping that somebody Somebody that has the time and the patience to help me Watch my child so I could go back to work but that hasn’t happened t think anybody was listening rk rue I wrong Christmas somebody gave me $70 was not easy trying to find this area This is Sandra Alvarez
Sent the CPS worker the pay stubs t My my birth certificate has been robbed my social security has is gone without identifying paperwork you are nothing in America Absolutely nothing you can’t get nothing I’m just as I’m worse than an immigrant in my own country And I’m not a bigger by trade I don’t know how to successfully beg You know I just want to get back to work I just want my grandbaby to be safe I’m doing everything I can to keep This man that was my daughter’s boyfriend out the house and I’m here by myself I’m 51 years old and I’m legally blind and I’m scared But even as I say that I know God is with me I know he is I begged my son to come over anytime and as much as he can And then yes I have manipulated him I did I did Because I just can’t believe that In a desperate time like what I’m under right now I can’t I can’t I haven’t earned compassion I haven’t earned anybody to just come by and just say okay just want to see that you’re ok You know that means so much it means so much to just have a man come around I don’t have any head I don’t have that covering and that’s that’s partially you know you have the Holy spirit because nobody can write messag I don’t know what you read about widows and and fatherless people but I am a widow and this child is followless And nobody comes around and check up on me nobody comes around to make sure that the baby’s eating You know you’re welcome anybody’s welcome to look in my refrigerator and see what kind of meals I’m making Does macaroni and cheese and ramen noodle that’s not a meal but I’m making do with what I have I’ll eat beans everyday I don’t care I love beans and I’m so grateful to have the beans I just I always do for others what I need for myself That’s how I measure how much I should help other people Nobody does that for me and nobody does that for me Anyway I just want to go fish I just want to fish I want to go back to work I want to go back to work That’s where I belong I don’t belong spending my days calling people trying to sign up for stuff The one day care place that supposed to be free Is it is an emergency daycare it was supposed to be free it’s a 8 to 9 month waiting list 8 to 9 months and I keep looking and looking and to see if I’m supposed to get an email back to to to let me know I’m on a waiting list they haven’t sent me no email and I know it was done correctly because the CPS worker filled out right in front of me and I signed it and she sent it I called them and they just said that when I get put on a waiting list I’ll get an email and that was a week ago
Hey please please pray that I could go back to work and that I have daycare for my baby Cuz I know my co-workers if I asked them for fruits and vegetables they’ll give it to me One person can get me an apple another person could give me a banana another person could give me an orange that’s all I need it’s for her I cou Cuz most of my life I’ve eaten beans and rice but this child Pause body is just developing she needs fruits and vegetables So people think that they they don’t have much I don’t have nothing I don’t need a lot I don’t but this child is everybody’s responsibility She does not have a father she has her heavenly father and I’m asking her heavenly father to put it on you guys hearts to make sure she’s taken care of I don’t need anything If the electricity gets shut off it gets shut off You know there’s nothing I can do about it you know I’m going to I’m going to keep devoting my these these days to calling and calling and calling but and that’s all I could do It’s just call You know and calling and until somebody picks up gives me appointment and Give me something towards my electricity it’s it’s I don’t think it’s above 600 I don’t think it’s it’s about 600 I think I don’t even want to look at it at this point I want to go I need a babysitter I need a babysitter but I have no food to give the babysitter backpack macaroni and cheese I’ll pack some ramen apex and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that’s all I got and water And I just I guess what she’s starving she’ll eat When she’s finally gone that’s what she did the other day she finally She was so hungry that she finally ate the ramen noodle and the beans and rice soup that I made it was tasty it was really good I don’t know why she didn’t eat it earlier But this is what I’m praying for pastor Is please let me go back to work Please let a soul let there be a soul Somewhere in the congregation somebody knows somebody that’s kind and patient and loving and wouldn’t mind watching this child until I could get back to work until CPS could get me babysitting There has to be somebody cuz I used to be that somebody that was wanting to help someone like myself You know but nobody gave me the opportunity There was one family that I helped and Anyway I need to be able to fish I’m grateful for the fish that I got I am truly grateful I’m not By no means The baby’s been eating You know regardless of whether there’s fruits or vegetables or not that she ate something cheap bread I need to be able to fish I need to be able to continue getting fish from the river I need to be able to pay my rent and pay the electricity I need to be able to buy a harness for this child so when I get off the bus she doesn’t run off One of the things that is holding me in the house is making me a prisoner to my own home is not being able to secure her safety when I’m out in the streets I cannot get off the bus being legally blind with this child She cannot stay in a stroller in the bus I can’t put her in the bus in the stroller I have to take her out the stroller I can’t see where I’m going So that requires for me to take via trans via trans is not free you have to pay for two tickets to get each way is two tickets that’s $2 that’s not a lot of money the tickets that I have are for work for me to get to work If I drop her off to daycare take go to work best means I have to spend $200 Just to get to work instead of 100 So I have to decide how am I going to do this Am I going to or if even if it’s meant for me to do it Maybe she’s meant to be a CPS custody And I’ve accepted that in my heart I’ve accepted that Nobody is going to help me And I’m just going to have to put her in God’s hands So please pray Please pray that She’ll be safe wherever she goes Please pray that no harm comes to her and she’s able to grow up happy and beautiful and Loving God That’s that’s what our prayers should be because faith Faith without works is dead and I’m working and I feel like I failed her I filter I filter because I should have held on to the money that I had I should have held on to it for myself for for my future pain for my I should have I should have I should have I wouldn’t be here crying About her So this is this is what’s going on this is I’m asking I’m asking God and I don’t know I don’t know If she’s meant to be with me then provide I need your provision If she’s not then keep her safe wherever she goes wherever you have her That’s I don’t know what else I could do The check from the third What all into my rent I have to put $20 sent $20 to Connecticut so get my birth certificate cuz I don’t know what happened to my birth certificate I haven’t I haven’t had to do that in over 20 years It’s probably been yeah it’s probably been about that I have to get find a way to order a Social Security card from the website I don’t have the adaptive software to be able to see On this laptop that was my daughter’s I’m going to ask my job if I could go to their to the computers at work and see if I can Figure it out it’s going to be challenging Cuz she’s going to be Wanting my attention like she always does But I gotta figure it out it’ll take me probably 4 or 5 hours to figure it out I’m disabled but you would think that people would be more compassionate and helpful and and I got to admit the people at my church my my job they really are they really are but ld drink water and eat beans and rice and be happy es like this without the action of the Holy spirit ay hat I needed an
Pastor Lee
Hello Sandra, I am glad we were able to get some help to you. We are going to keep you in our prayers!