The Paceline

…And bad times. Grandma likes to read about good times. The general public likes to watch a train wreck.

Two guys, one named Keller, the other, Solomon, got me to thinking about this lately. They identify prosperity and adversity as two great tests. I never think much about the good times of prosperity as a test. Aren’t all rich people happy?

Read the words of the next sentence slowly and carefully. Solomon said “The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death… (Proverbs 10:16).  

Keller parsed that sentence well in his book, God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life (p. 241, Kindle Edition). To paraphrase that much better author: If proud people get wild success, if the greedy get stinking rich, and the lusty ones get anything they want anytime they want, it only confirms their illusions about their ability to achieve their own happiness. THAT will inevitably lead to total despair in the end when all these supposed paradises decay, and life leaves them in a box canyon. No where to go. Nothing to drink.

Keep on drinking your expensive drink of choice. It will never satisfy your thirst. You might give living water a try. It won’t let you down.

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

Jesus really did live. He really did say that. His living water really can make a difference before – or after – a train wreck.