Authors have written countless books about how to maximize our life. As I was writing this post, I visited Amazon.com. In the category of books, I searched for the titles of books containing the words “best life.” I saw titles such as “Creating Your Best Life, “The Best Year of Your Life,” “Your Best Life Now,” and so on.
Who in his right mind does not want to maximize his or her life? That is the very life Jesus modeled for us while He was on earth. And through the writings of the apostles, we have an ample written record of Jesus’ public life.
A Life of Fellowship with God
In John the apostle’s first letter he wrote these words:
“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
1 John 1:3, KJV
Here, John gives one of the specific objectives of his and the other apostles’ records of what they heard and saw while they were with Jesus. It is that we might have fellowship with God.
Jesus has returned to the Father. But His lifestyle and teachings, during His public ministry, have been captured through the apostles’ writings. As His disciples, we are to practice His lifestyle and teachings. When we do, we will experience fellowship with the Father just as Jesus did.
Fellowship occurs only when two or more people share common interests with each other. As we become followers of Christ, our interests will become one with God’s. In turn, He will participate with the things we do. That is the nature of fellowship. And it is this kind of fellowship with God that Jesus enjoyed while on earth.
A Life of Fullness of Joy
Secondly, John says, “These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full” (verse 4). And remember what the apostles wrote. They wrote about the things they heard and saw when they were with Jesus. So, through following the lifestyle and teachings of Christ, not only will we have fellowship with God, but also we will realize fullness of joy.
We should not confuse joy and happiness. The latter is a function of what’s happening in our life. That is, we tend to be happy when positive things happen in our life and sad during negative events. Joy on the other hand is not a function of life’s events. Joy is rooted in our relationship with Christ. It enables us to experience a sense of contentment within and to rejoice even when circumstances don’t lend themselves to happiness. The apostles synopsized the life and teachings of Christ that we might have fullness of joy.
Conclusion
I submit that when we enjoy fellowship with God and fhave ullness of joy, we will experience a maximized life. Actually, these two—fellowship with God and fullness of joy—are related. Our joy is fullest when we have fellowship with God. Jesus modeled that life while on earth. The apostles recorded what they heard and saw while they with Him, and they have declared those things to us.
We conclude then that God wants us to have the best life we can have. He came down in the person of His Son to demonstrate how to live that kind of life. And we have this awesome plan for our life captured in the apostles’ writings.
No better life exists for you than the life Jesus modeled and taught us how to live. He said He came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly (John 10:10)
Copyright © 2023 by Frank King. All rights reserved.