The Good Life

So much of life is spent in a constant struggle trying to find our place in it. Who am I? Where do I belong? What is my place in this world? Much of philosophy is built around answering these questions. For the Stoics (the only philosophy I’m familiar with), their pursuit of wisdom, courage, inner peace, and justice was supposed to help them find harmony with nature and nature’s God. While some of try to chase after riches or luxury, all we really want is to find a way to fit into our individual lives — to be at peace with ourselves and our surroundings.

Sitting opposite my desk in my office is wall-mounted shelf upon which sit a couple dozen Funko Pop figurines. Most are Star Wars characters (Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Din Jaren etc.), several Marvel comic book characters (Thor, Captain America, Deadpool), The Doctor, a few miscellaneous others. I used to take such joy in those silly little bobble-headed characters. Now they just take up space on my wall. Similarly, I used have boxes of comic books. I sold them off years ago. The more I look around my office at the things I’ve accumulated, the more I see stuff that can very easily either go into the trash or into a yard sale. The same goes for most objects in my house. Except for the books I’ve collected over the years. These I would sell to purchase the electronic formats simply for ease of handling.

Once upon a time I thought I would be happy if I had a job that paid me handsomely — well enough to afford a sizable house, a car or two, and luxuries to keep me happy — a wife who adored me, a family…. I have none of these things.

Two thousand odd years ago, a Jewish preacher stepped up onto a hillside and said:

“The good life belongs to those who are powerless for theirs will be the Kingdom of the skies.”

Jeshua of Nazareth as quoted in the Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter 5, verse 3.

You’re probably scratching your heads right now. “That’s not how I remember that verse.” I’ve been listening to the weekly podcast from The BibleProject and they are going through the entire Sermon on the Mount this year and really spend a lot of time exploring this pivotal moment of Christianity (click here to listen to the episode which covers this portion of the Sermon I’m discussing in this posting). It has been a truly eye-opening series so far. They reexamined the translation of the original texts to ensure a good understanding, not only of the language(s), but also of the context.

For years I’ve wondered (considering the typical translation of “Blessed are the poor of spirit”), why would or should those who are poor spiritually-speaking be considered blessed. Is this to be a sought-after condition? the only way I could see that vantage point (and the BibleProject team as well) was that it allowed spiritual growth. But we know that spiritual growth is not a zero sum situation. In other words, the spiritual growth pool is not a fixed size. You can continue to grow spiritually, ad infinitum! Theoretically, at least. We should all be seeking to grow spiritually every day!

No, what Jeshua (or “Jesus” as it was transliterated into the Greek and, eventually, English) was talking about was the peoples’ station in life. The Greek word used in this verse for “spirit” (as well as the corresponding Hebrew word) means “the force which empowers or gives strength to someone/something.” For instance, we typically think of our spirit or soul as being what empowers our being. Without our spirit/soul, we would be dead. Therefore, it would be logical to see that Jesus was saying that the powerless, or more literally, those without an animating spirit, the kingdom of the skies will be theirs.

Once you accept this slightly different interpretation of the words used in scripture, I think you’ll find it makes a lot more sense. “The good life belongs to (blessed are) the powerless (the poor in spirit) for theirs is the kingdom of the skies (heavens). Jesus came for those who were poor, broken, the “average Joe, so to speak. When the Pharisees challenged him for eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus responded by saying “A doctor goes to the sick, not the healthy.” So saying that “the good life,” or God’s new Kingdom to be established by his Anointed One was going to be possessed by “the powerless (poor in spirit),” this completely tracks with everything else that Jesus taught us throughout scripture.

So what does any of this have to do with my growing lack of enthusiasm for my Funko Pop collection? Not a lot, really. At one point, I used to equate my happiness with having cetain items. Stuff. But I find that as I grow older, these things mean less and less to me. What does mean something to me is that I am walking every day with God by my side. It means everything to me that He is providing strength for me to get through any difficulty — and there are many and frequent difficulties. I would not fall under the traditional definition of “powerless” in the world today. But I’m learning that one does not need power to be strong.

I have a different source of strength. For me, strength is defined in other terms. My source of strength is a Jewish tradesman who was unjustly executed, but who willingly accepted His sentence. My strength is deined not by what I have or accumulate. It’s not defined by how much I can lift, carry, or push. It’s defined by who empowers me. It is defined by who walks beside me as the fires of life rage. It is defined by how much I love. It’s defined by what I do with what’s been given to me…in Jesus’ name.

So, you could say I do have the Good Life.

And if you know anyone who would like some Funko Pops…?