The Good Life

Psalm 16:2 "I say to the LORD, 'You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'" (ESV)

Finding what "the good" is, and then pursuing it (resulting in the "Good Life") has been the goal of philosophy since the time of Socrates. From his time, to ours many different answers to this question have been proposed, everything from pleasure (Epicurious's answer) to contemplation (Aristotle's answer). In this part of the Bible, King David states that there is no good apart from God (and not just any god, but the God, Yahweh). He answers the age old question, "What is the Good Life?" by stating that there is no good apart from God.

If one has no good apart from the God, then why spend any time or energy pursuing things aside from the God. Good is only found in God, the Good Life is found by knowing God and being known by Him. Not only that, but the Psalmist continues, "The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply." (Psalm 16:4). Pursuing other gods (such as, sports, ministry, family, friends, books et cetera) will only multiply ones sorrow. That certainly is not the epitome of the Good Life.

Good is found only in God, and sorrow is the only thing found outside of God. Why then would anyone (especially professing Christians) waste their time and energy pursuing anything but God?