A life well lived?

I was sad to see that Dick Clark died last Wednesday. He was 82, which is a long time to be here on this Earth. I don’t remember too many years that I didn’t spend in front of the TV counting down to midnight with him on New Year’s Eve. He headlined most of the week’s news as an American Icon that made a profound impact on the music and entertainment industry. I heard one lady say she thought he was one of those people who would live forever. I did too! An ABC Nightly News correspondent said, “what a life well lived."

As I sat there on my couch and the footage rolled of Dick Clark’s life that statement “a life well lived” made me stop and think. Was it a life well lived? To what standard is it considered a well life? The World’s? Ok stop right there! I’m not trying to diminish Dick Clark’s life or achievements. I didn’t know him personally nor did I know his heart. What I’m getting at is what the WORLD in general considers a “life well lived.” I think (my opinion here) that the WORLD believes if you live in a big house, have that dream job, a luxury car, children are in the best school, I’ve won X# of awards for my accomplishments, financial portfolio is in the black, retired early, etc. that at the end of life people will say, “WOW now that was a life well lived.” Not that any of the previous things are inherently bad but they are just that “things.” Temporal.

This prompted me to seek out what does scripture, the Bible, say about life? Jesus tells us in the Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:15 -Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Matthew 6 has this to say about possessions: 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Some verses on life:

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have LIFE, and have it to the full.

John 8:12  When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of LIFE.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal LIFE.

I think Paul proclaims it perfectly in Philippians 1:21 For to me, to LIVE is CHRIST and to die is gain. What a stark contrast of what the world says is LIFE. 

Jesus says to Martha in John 11:25-26 ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the LIFE. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

So do you believe this? Do you believe the only life "well lived" is a life lived for Christ? I do.