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If a bird flies in the air
and a fish swims in the water, what does a human being do and where? Also,
how does the person do this "what" and "where."
Contained in these three simple questions, the what, the where, and the
how, lie the mystery of loving life and seeing good days for every
individual. To be is the challenge of the human existence.
Every person, at some point in life, raises the ageless questions.
"What is life really all about?" "Where can the essence of
true living be found?" "How does one experience the good
life?" It seems embedded within the framework of what it means to be
a human being is the quest for the meaning of life.
The letters of Peter profoundly address those same inquiries. He
summarized, "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him
refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let
him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the
eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their
prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil" (1
Peter 3:10-12). Within these statements, the mystery of the meaning of
life can be found.
The essence of the letters of Peter has as its foundation the ancient
covenant between God and man. The descendants of Abraham, father of the
faithful, were to live out their lives in the knowledge of God’s
covenant with them: "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will
bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing: And I
will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 12:2,3). To
understand the intricacies of this covenant is to understand the
simplicity of life. Although it seems to be clothed in mystery because so
few enjoy the blessing, the covenant is, nevertheless, forthright in its
proclamation of the essence of loving life and seeing good days.
Unfortunately, most people, including much of modern Christianity,
struggle with the basic truth of life. They never seem to get past the
simple, yet profound, challenge of grace and its revelation. The grace of
God appears to be bestowed consistently in vain. Most people frustrate the
grace of God that produces the complete, affirming, strong, and settled
life by their own attempt to produce that life themselves. They are their
own worst enemy.
Moreover, the basic formation of one’s existence is inevitably in the
context of relationships. The individual person attempting to live in his
perceived independence will resist the process by which life is always
experienced. For any man to experience the life he desires, he must be
drawn out from behind the barriers he has created for his self
preservation. Fearing rejection, he has hidden the real essence of
himself. He has entered into relationships, but usually only for his
perceived needs. He seldom, if ever, experiences the perfecting
supernatural relationship of love. He does not understand being "heirs
together of the grace of life."
Finally, the simple truth of all creatures seems to be hidden to most
people. Creation tells the same story over and over again: spring comes
out of winter, sunrise comes out of midnight, and the bloom of the rose
comes out of the planting of the seed. Since life requires death in the
created world, the mind of man, and only the mind of man, can and will
resist the seed-times of his life. The glory of the harvest, however, will
come only for man when his mind lives its existence in innocence. Refusing
to attempt to control the times and the seasons of life, the
"just" live in their faith of the covenant of God.
Loving life and seeing good days are always the product of the workings of
the Holy Spirit as man experiences the what, the where, and the how of
life. The letters of Peter consistently proclaim these three noble truths
of what it means to be a human being--what it means to be a Christian.
Loving life and seeing good days are always in, by, and through the grace
of God. Loving life and seeing good days are always in, by, and through
the interaction of relationships. Loving life and seeing good days are
always in, by, and through the innocence of mind. Peter declared that each
of us are "heirs together of the grace of life."
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