What do you want out of life? Happiness, health, wealth (or at least comfort/security), a loving family, lasting friendships, time for travel, or perhaps all of the above? Where does faith and your relationship with God fit into your desires for life.

It seems that we often live life by the words "if only." If only I were out of school, if only I had that job, if only I were married, if only I could retire, if only . . .  The problem with the "if only" lifestyle is that we are never satisfied with where we are today. Think about your life span (if you are older) - or that of your parents or grandparents (if you are younger). Many who are still alive today remember a time when not every family had a car or a phone or a television. Within many lifetimes came telephones, then television, then color TV, then the idea of computers that led to home computers, then to the internet, then to cell phones, and so on. Where will technology take us in the next 25-50 years? If we think about all of the changes in society over the span of a lifetime, we realize that our lifetimes are not really as short as they feel. Still, at the end of the day, many feel that life was too short and regret what they didn't accomplish, words they didn't say, places they didn't get to visit, etc.

Life is short, and many of us turn to Jesus in part based on the promise that we will live forever. That's not bad, but when we think about eternal life, we often think about it starting when this life is over. The truth is, we possess eternal life now. The Apostle Paul wrote, in Romans 8:2, "The law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." In other words, when you accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and proclaimed your faith in him, your eternal life began that very minute. Death, when it comes in this life, is not death at all - it is simply transition. Think about that for a few minutes: what does that mean to you? Can thinking that way make a difference in how you live your life today?

It is one of life's great lies that we need to be somewhere else, doing something else, with someone else before we truly start living. When we find our life in Jesus, we exchange regret over life's brevity for the full enjoyment of eternal life now and forever. So, what do you want out of life? And where does God's desire for your life fit in?

Thought: To live forever we must let Jesus live in us now.

Prayer: Lord, you said you came to give us life to the fullest, but too often we have our own agenda and the wrong goals in mind. Help us to understand that we have eternal life now, and help us to live each day as a people freed from sin and death. Forgive us, and help us desire what you want instead of what we want. Amen.