Quality and Quantity
For most of my life, I have felt good.
But all that time I didn’t really know how good I felt.
It took “precious” trials of life, such as cancer, to see how wonderful physical life truly is. So that is why I am not using a Jedi mind trick when I think positively about problems – I truly do rejoice in trials, knowing the sweet fruit it produces. Today when I feel good, I REALLY feel good!
When people are having a good time and have their physical senses filled to overflowing, they often say, “Man, this is REALLY living!” On the other hand, when we don’t feel good physically and are being stretched to our limits by pain, we describe ourselves as being “dead”, even though we are still alive physically.
The quality of life. It is a major factor in health care decisions when someone is trying to decide if the cure is worse than their disease. If the treatment causes more misery and takes away the quality of everyday life, most will choose to let the disease run its course rather than just “exist” in a dull, senseless condition, even if treatment gives us a few more days on earth. Some people commit suicide because they see no quality in their life, no matter how healthy they may be. We all want a life that is useful, beneficial and enjoyable in some way, or else it just doesn’t seem worth living!
When it comes to the important things in your life, shouldn’t we always be more concerned with quality, rather than quantity?
One of the great promises of Jesus is eternal life (John 3:15,16.). Upon hearing this, we may put the emphasis on quantity of life in this magnificent blessing and think that He is just speaking of “how long” Heaven will be. But do you think it might be even more important to consider that what makes this life so great is its unsurpassable, mind-boggling quality?
Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Here the Savior contrasts the malicious intent of our spiritual enemy to defraud us with His Own loving desire that we not only have “life”, but that we have it in the best way: “More abundantly!” What a wonderful Lord we have to not only offer us an eternal home with Him after this world passes away, but to taste that eternal life dwelling in us today! (I John 5:11-13).
What kind of “life” will you and I have after we leave this old world? Or, what will be the “quality” of your life? If you don’t have Christ as your life (Colossians 3:1-4), you will still exist. But it will be in a state referred to in Revelation 20:14 as “The Second Death”, since death is a separation (James 2:26) and you will be eternally separated from our Creator. Is this the quality of life anyone truly desires?
Man has made amazing strides in prolonging the length of our days on earth. But has he made any progress in improving the quality of real, spiritual life? No one can improve on “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.” The farther a person or society roams away from the Source of life, the poorer the quality of life. In the end, this downward slide from God leads to a worthless existence, with no quality of life… but plenty of time.
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that is believing in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever is living and believing in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Choose quality – choose the real Life.