Ownership - 2 – Life more abundant

Hear, and your soul shall live" (Isa. 55.3) cried the preacher to those hungering and thirsting for life.

It is all too obvious that human kind do not live. For a few short years there is a troubled existence beset by all sorts of perils, pains and accidents. Discontent marks the lot of all classes, for few are satisfied with their lot. The apparently wealthy and outwardly successful, envied by lesser mortals admit to longings for a more complete life. Happiness is an elusive quality for which there is no sound recipe or any lasting guarantee, for death cuts off rich and poor, young and old, eager and satiated, with total impartiality. How then can man live fully, completely, satisfyingly and usefully in the midst of so much turmoil, weakness, disappointment and futility? Having gone wrong in the quest for life, how can he be put right? It is a problem that has set the best of his doctors and teachers a conundrum that is more puzzling than the riddle of the Sphinx. Answers are numerous, remedies are many. The age-old strife of man goes on. From the four corners of the earth the restless masses of mankind struggle, endure, fight, strive, wrestle, groan, hunger and thirst for life. To throw off the many yokes imposed upon them, to go unshackled by fear, by poverty, by disease; to discover the way of peace and plenty, to breathe new vigour from a clean atmosphere, would be to many millions, heaven on earth.

Life more abundant can only come from one source, the original fountain of immortal vigour. The leaky cisterns of man's making hardly wet the desert of vast human needs. The voice of God calls above the rowdy hubbub of twenty-first century life as it has called in every century of human existence. Throughout the discord, the disruption, the social and mental strife, the inviting words, "Come! Turn you to Me!" falls on heedless ears. They have a strange, foreign sound in the world of pop-culture, speed and lotteries. The voice that offers life without money and without price finds few buyers in the busy markets of the world where mammon reigns and merchandise that can be seen and handled is the chief attraction. Much that is shoddy, sordid and mean is offered for sale to the gullible. Glittering baubles and flashy toys, the prizes and playthings of a few years or days, find ready purchasers. Here today and gone tomorrow, eat, drink and be merry, is the spirit and song of the current social order. A sound of revelry by night succeeds the chattering babel of the day. In the murky cup of the pleasures and treasures of this world lie some sour dregs. In the mists drift many grey shadows who have passed by the milk and honey, the priceless free wine of abundant life. Deaf or indifferent, they have not heard the voice of God and they do not live.

The unchanging Word of a changeless God still calls through His prophet. "Make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will you die! For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord God. Therefore turn yourselves and live! "(Ezek. 18.31) Christ later carried on the same theme in His teaching. He looked about Him on the multitudes who listened eagerly to what He had to tell them about life. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd, bewildered, frightened, sick and poor, with none to lead them or provide for them, to give them the security and pasture which sheep so much need. He had compassion upon them, taking upon himself the role of the Good Shepherd. He saw them at their hard, ill-paid toil and called the weary and heavy-laden to His side. He invited them to learn from Him, to take His yoke upon them, for His yoke was easy and His burden was light. The yoke which chafed their tired shoulders and the burdens which almost bent them double were not only those of literal toil and hardship but the pressure of the Law which by now had become a cumbersome load of ritual and trivialities. What had begun as a simple set of Divine rules, intelligible to all, had snowballed under the hands of priestly scholars into massive books of religious rules and observances demanding a variety of penalties and sacrifices which filled the coffers of the Temple and enriched the merchants. As all were prone to sin and to stray in spite of the penalties imposed, the people could see no way out of their weakness and difficulties. Often they were hungry and thirsty in a dry land. When Jesus supplied them with bread and offered them the water of life they followed him in the hope of more loaves. It was then He advised them to "labour not for the meat which perishes but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life".

Jesus' words were a restatement of the prophet (Isa. 55.2-3) whose voice was the voice of God to His people. Why spend labour and money on that which does not satisfy? For what is the advantage if someone gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? As Jesus walked among men He saw them as buyers making bad bargains, working or scheming for money which they spent on trifles or treasures which brought them trouble and anxiety. Again and again He rebuked the acquisitive desires of men for gain, their desire to be rich in this world's goods rather than being rich toward God. Mammon offered pleasures, excitements, goods for which they were eager bidders. God offered life more abundant, peace, tranquillity, contentment, a blessed assurance of life to come, a continuation of being in a richer and nobler environment. Then as now there were few takers. Many who had walked with Jesus turned away. Only a few in any period of man's existence have had the courage and foresight to take God at His word, to provide for themselves the good, full life which even death cannot destroy.

The Bible claims to be the word of God, His written advice to man on how to live. Sceptics may dismiss it and critics peck peevishly at what their vanity considers to be flaws in the great Book but its crystalline substance is harder than the everlasting hills. They may pass away but the Word of God lives forever. Life is its theme. It offers, it promises, it invites, it pleads, it guides, it teaches and demonstrates by example, parable and picture. All its paths are toward life. The gift of God is life. The Bible may be pulverized and analysed by its detractors, its enemies or its friends but Life is still the vital essence that drips from its sacred pages. The great philosophers of the world have offered their medicines to restore a jaded mind but their effects are fleeting. Nothing so quickens the spirit of man as a draught from that water of life that Jesus claimed sustained everlasting life. Nothing so puts a man on his feet and keeps him going like the bread and water of God. Under these metaphors of man's daily, physical need are included the needs of his heart, his mind, his spirit. His body with his natural needs takes second place to the moral and spiritual part of his nature that draws its nourishment from a finer source than that of the material world.

"Man does not live by bread alone." There is an energising power, a word that enables him to discern between true values and false, to weigh the advantages of one against the disadvantages of the other. The world with its gods of gold may be gained; the world with its alluring voice may win, or be won. Money and all that money can buy may give a few thrills, a little excitement, a short pleasure in which the spender may be lost in strange mazes, or cast away from all that money cannot buy, for the gifts of God are beyond price and without price. Peace, wisdom, kindness, compassion, gentleness, contentment, humility, justice and joy are the rich qualities of life that make the human creature God-like. They are summed up in the one word ‑ love. Love for God and love for people. Had the whole race this love within themselves they would have life. The whole world would be gained, without its love of money, its armaments and evils. Without God the world is lost. Without love man is lost, whatever else he may have gained. Law, love and life are powerful agencies that cannot be separated one from the other, and of the three the writer to the Corinthian church would have added "the greatest of these is love".

Love is not merely a natural passion between men and women, or the filial affection of parents and children, or the affinity of friend with friend. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." (Rom.13.10). It is a quality, a gracious principle, a golden thread wrought into the tapestry of man's being. It is that which leads the mind of man to appreciate and esteem beauty and goodness, to desire to do some good to others; to be on the whole, kind, honest and likeable. Godliness or God's likeness, about which the cynical often bitterly sneer, is more than a commendable urge to like people and to be liked in return. If this were a universally established principle then as a poet has written, "There were no need for arsenals nor for forts".

The good neighbour is not merely a figure of speech or a picturesque custom. It is the duty of man. "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." The brotherhood of man, the great fraternity of mankind is an ideal that has never yet been realised. When man failed in his duty to God, he also failed in his duty to his brother. "Am I my brother's keeper" is a question which has received a negative reply by the ruthless, ambitious, tyrannical sections of the human race who have thirsted and striven for wealth and power over the souls of men.

Apart from those enslaved by tyranny and greed, other forms of bondage and excess have caused men to kill, hate, rob and generally ill treat each other. "Man's inhumanity to man" has made "countless thousands mourn." Grief, fear and oppression have been the lot of millions of the displaced, cheated, disinherited people, whose rights have been ignored, whose lives and labour have been sold cheaply. The annals of the family of man make wretched reading, all because the law of God on the duty of man has been ignored or is not recognised by the selfish who seek their own ends. Human nature as a rule looks after its own best interests, provides for, cherishes and cares for self.

To love one's neighbour with the same degree of interest would ensure peace, safety and happiness. The lover of God can neither hate himself nor his fellow man. He respects the sanctity of human life as made in the image of God, with certain rights and privileges that he must respect and honour. The second great commandment of God is the protector of human welfare and the passport to happiness. If it were observed, love would be welling up in every heart for every other heart. The whole atmosphere of the world would be changed to a healthy, joyous unison.

Disregarded, disaster has written and is writing history, as failure fills the prisons and the daily newspapers. The cry of governments is not for more brotherly love but for more prisons, more police and more laws. Nations increase their military might with the most deadly weapons ready to destroy each other at the press of a button. This is not love but its opposite. Animosity, distrust and suspicion preside over the counsels of rulers. Godliness and brotherly kindness ebbs from a world going its own way. As evil increases love grows cold. None have ever yet succeeded in serving both God and mammon. In times of crisis it is easier to cast faith to the winds of war than to cast all care upon God. The voice of God has been drowned in the fearful uproar. To seek help from such an unseen source has been called "a counsel of despair" by those without God and without hope, yet there have been examples of faith working miracles, of love subduing evils, on the part of those who have made the Eternal God their refuge and tower of strength. The quality of life depends upon personal choice, whether we choose to walk the narrow way that leads to life or the broad road of the world which leads to a dead end.

David, the famous king of Israel made his choice "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." (Psa. 84.10)

Men and women can rarely choose their own circumstances, but choice of camp is an exclusive personal right. Many have dared to be poor rather than abandon their principles for wealth or high office. They have given up certainties for uncertainties, rather than mix with doubtful or suspicious business. Some have elected to walk in the wilderness, choosing a solitary way rather than be involved in a weak compromise or keep company with the shallow, thoughtless crowd. Among the truly great, renunciation has contributed largely to their success. For everyone written into history whose choice has influenced or shaped national events, there are thousands more unknown and obscure who have chosen to walk with God rather than live in an atmosphere of aimless pleasure. David became King of Israel but his heart remained as humble and loyal to God as in the days when he kept the sheep and silenced the giant who menaced his people. Moses forsook the treasures of Egypt for the obscurity of the wilderness, but his decision fitted him to be the deliverer and leader of his people. Of the two daughters-in-law of Naomi, Orpah chose to return to the pagan ease of her own people, never to be heard of again, while Ruth went on with her mother-in-law, leaving a certainty for an uncertainty. The result of her choice was love, happiness and a place in history as the ancestress of the house of David. Mary of Bethany chose to sit at the feet of Jesus listening to His wonderful words of life rather than join in the bustle of domestic tasks. He commended her for having chosen the better part. Words failed Paul to tell of all those who had chosen the Lord's side. He himself chose a hard road rather than continue as an honoured councillor in a dying system. So space and time would fail after so many centuries to speak of all those who, like David, would rather live lowly and obscure lives serving God, than occupy greater positions in the world. There faith and obedience to high principles and ideals are forfeited through unbelief, indecision or lack of moral courage to uphold them among a hard-bargaining, hard-headed crowd to whom such refinements are neither practical nor welcome.

Choosing the right side, the side of God and goodness, may mean a splendid throwing away of self and natural ambition. It may not lead to worldly success but it leads to peace. Worldly-wise spectators may regard that as a foolish choice, which in this world wins no reward other than that of an untroubled conscience, a heart at rest, a mind at ease. Faith looks for its recompence when faith becomes lost in sight. It would not exchange its lowly rest with God for all the pomp of kings and princes: rather would it rather have the peace of God than all the fleeting vanities this present world can offer.