Randy Alcorn - Are You Living the Good Life?

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Are You Living the Good Life?

Copyright 2019 by Randy Alcorn. All rights reserved.

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The author is grateful for the helpful counsel of the literary agency, WTA Services LLC, Franklin, TN.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified Bible, copyright 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked CEB are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation in Todays English Version, Second Edition, copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NCV are taken from the New Century Version. Copyright 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. (Some quotations may be from the earlier NIV edition, copyright 1984.) Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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This book is adapted from Giving Is the Good Life 2019 by Randy Alcorn.

ISBN 978-1-4964-4376-2

Build: 2021-04-20 22:45:10 EPUB 3.0

Give away your life; youll find life given back, but not merely given back given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. LUKE 6:38, MSG

C HANCES ARE, you were drawn to this booklet because you want the good life. Perhaps your life hasnt lived up to your expectations and hopes. And even if youre not quite sure how to define the good life, you know youd like to experience it. After all, who wants to live the bad life?

Google the good life and youll find advice from both secular and religious sources on how to achieve a life worth living. Were told, Make lots of money, spend it on yourself, and youll be happy. Then youll be living the good life!

Thats a lie. Despite a long history of personal experiences and studies indicating money doesnt indeed, cannot buy the good life, countless people make choices as if it does. Yes, we all need food, clothes, and shelter. But once our basic needs are met, money often stops helping us and starts hurting us.

In 2007, actor Owen Wilson slashed his wrists in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. People magazines cover story about the funny man who had it all implied that his material abundance gave him every reason to live. Public shock over his actions unveiled the widespread belief that things like money, fame, cars, sex, a second home the whole celebrity package really do buy happiness. After all, wasnt Owen Wilson living the good life?

In a subsequent issue of People, one letter to the editor insightfully asked, If a red-hot career, traveling the globe, a Malibu mansion and million-dollar paychecks didnt prevent Owens demons from rearing their ugly heads before the August incident, why would they do the trick now?

The irony is inescapable: most of Owen Wilsons fans would have, in a heartbeat, exchanged their mundane, commonplace lives for that of their idol. But the trade would have given them the life Wilson desperately wanted out of.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus told us that parting with money to help others actually brings us more joy than holding on to it for ourselves. Counterintuitive as it may seem, our greatest good, and the happiness that accompanies it, is found in giving, not receiving.

In other words, generosity is the good life.

Deep down, we all know we can spend every last cent on ourselves and still end up miserable. In fact, that lifestyle guarantees we end up miserable! What Jesus calls us to do is far more radical and satisfying: love others by giving away our money and time. That sounds like loss, not gain, right? Yet in Gods economy, thats exactly how we expand and enhance our own lives.

Im not suggesting that giving always comes easily or without sacrifice. I am saying that in Gods providence, the payoff for living a generous life far outweighs and outlasts the sacrifice.

Jesus told his disciples that when they gave money away, their hearts would follow the treasures they were storing in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). He also said that at the Resurrection, God would reward them for helping the needy (Luke 14:14).

The Bible shows that anything we put in Gods hands is an investment in eternity. That doesnt just mean that our giving will bring us good someday in Heaven. It will also bring us good here and now while it does good for others. Thats why the good life is inseparable from generosity.

Sound too good to be true? Well, keep reading! Because, as youre about to discover, the truth about living the good life is far better than you could ever imagine. And because of Jesus, its absolutely possible for you regardless of your income to experience it.

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If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. JOHN 7:37-38

T O UNDERSTAND WHAT constitutes the good life, we need to grasp where life comes from and where its going.

God is the eternal source of life. He gave human beings the breath of life (Genesis 2:7), and he designed the first people to experience communion with himself, the living God. In the presence of Edens tree of life (Genesis 2:9), he walked with Adam and Eve as they enjoyed a life-giving and delightful relationship that ended when they sinned (Genesis 3:8). God warned them that if they ate of the fruit of one particular tree, this beautiful life would tragically end in death (Genesis 2:17).

They disobeyed. And while Adam and Eves physical death came gradually, the end of their life-giving spiritual relationship with God was immediate.

Ever since, people have existed in a state of spiritual death: dying bodies, decaying relationships, and failed dreams. Death is the new normal. But thats not the end of the story. The Good News tells us Jesus sacrifice conquered sin and death on our behalf.