You ever feel like life seems okay, but only at certain times, and then when it’s not okay it’s awful? As in, when you’re with your friends and you’re hanging out together, it’s all good and you feel sorta happy and fulfilled, but then when you’re by yourself, it’s not just a little bit worse - it’s completely terrible? Do you know what I mean by that? It’s as if normal life is average - not too bad and not too great; but if there’s not something going on, you don’t even want to show up for life.
What’s the deal with that? Why is it that life sometimes goes from just-plain-functional to code-red-disaster in a matter of seconds? And why is it that the kinda-good times (when you’re with your friends and doing really cool stuff) are only kinda good? Where is the part where you’re just so excited to wake up and get into a new day because your life is just so stinkin’ real and full and just outrageously alive?!
Well, before we talk about what the answer to this question is, I want to call a timeout and tell you some stuff… first of all, if you ever feel this way about your life, I want you to know that you’re not alone. You’re not some kind of freak who just so happens to be the only down and depressed or struggling person on planet earth. Tons of people feel this way. Tons of Christians feel this way. I know I’ve been there a million times before and I’m sure I’ll be there again. The point of bringing up this issue is not to make you feel bad for the way your life is going. The point of bringing it up is to encourage you and help you find your way out. In other words, I know how it feels to be there, and I’m sorry it’s going this way for you, because I know how much it sucks. Not only that, but because I know how it feels, maybe I can help by giving you a strategy for getting out.
Okay, the reason life isn’t working properly right now is very simple - you’re drinking from a broken cup.
What I mean is this: Your life is supposed to be about Jesus. It’s supposed to be filled with Jesus. Your day is supposed to be overwhelmed with thoughts of Him, conversations with Him and time spent with Him. You are supposed to get the energy, joy, purpose and fuel for life straight from the unlimited storehouse of His indestructible life, but truth be known, most of us give a nod to Jesus as we go about the rest of our lives. We build our lives around our jobs, our friends, our school, our other interests, our love life or even our food and favorite movies. Jesus becomes just another bullet point on that checklist, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way.
Jesus was supposed to be the absolute center and source of every single thing we think, do, create and experience, so that we enjoy all that other life stuff as gifts from His heart. Here’s the thing: Making Jesus ‘just another item on the checklist’ for the day changes living life into drinking from a cup with a hole in the bottom. You keep filling it up and you might even get something to drink at the very beginning, but before you know it, all you had is gone and the cup is empty. The way life was made to be lived is with Jesus in every moment. When you do that, it’s like jumping into an endless ocean of your favorite drink with the cup in your hand - no matter how much you fill it up, there’s always more - in fact, you’re swimming in it!