This is a long one...

[my HSM message for tonight's kick off to "The Best Life Ever" series]
In the late 1500’s, Ponce de Leon set out to find the fountain of youth, because he was hoping to cheat death. He never found it, even though he spent his whole life searching. If you think about that, it’s kind of messed up. He wasted his life searching for something to make his life longer, because he thought that would make his life better. He left behind family and friends in the quest to find life, and it got him nowhere.

How often do we find ourselves doing the same thing? Now, most likely we’re not wandering around trying to find the fountain of youth, but we ARE always searching for something to make this life better, whether it’s money, recognition, being needed, or whatever we think we need to feel whole. Just like Ponce de Leon, we can spend so much time looking for life that we don’t even see it’s right in front of us.

What does it mean to live? How do you know if you’re really living? Some people jump out of planes, others get involved in high-speed races, and that’s living to them. Basically, if something gets your blood to rush, if your adrenaline starts pumping, then you’re "really living." Life is found in whatever gets your blood moving. In Leviticus 17, it says that the life in the body is found in its blood. And obviously without blood, the body can’t function and it dies. But it’s not enough to just have the blood. It’s got to pump; it needs to flow. That’s where life comes from.

So what makes your blood pump? What makes you alive? Does Jesus make your blood pump? The verse in Leviticus says that life is found in blood, which is why Jesus had to spill his blood to bring us back to life. The Bible says that the result of sin is death, so until we look at Jesus and say, “I get that you did this for me,” until we can accept that God has something bigger planned for us, we’re not living.

Sometimes I think even when we do have that relationship with Christ, we can get in a place where it feels like we’re not moving anywhere. Blood can only flow as fast as the heart pumps it, as fast as the heart beats. Is your heart fully beating for God, making your blood flow and causing you to move? Or maybe you’re heart’s only kind of beating for God. We’ve all been there. Sometimes, I’ve felt like mine was barely beating at all, but even then, it was still beating. It made me feel sluggish with my faith, but my heart hadn’t stopped. Even though I was frustrated with God and frustrated with myself, I still had life. And eventually, when I went after Jesus, when I got real with him and said “I can’t deal with this anymore,” when I said, “I need you to love me. I need you to help me,” all the stuff that was getting in the way was gone, and my heart could beat again. When I went after life, my blood began to flow.

Put your hand on your heart or find your pulse on your wrist. Feel that. God makes that possible. He’s the one who gave you a heart, who gave you blood. Is your heart beating for him? Do you accept the life He’s got for you? There was this quote that I clung to, before I even knew God, but God still knew me, still knew what I was going through. I read this quote in a Seventeen Magazine, and it said, “God is saving me for something special; that’s why I’m not dead yet.” I still had a pulse, and in that moment, I realized that pulse had a purpose. God had a purpose. He gave each of us life so we could have a relationship with him. Let your heart beat for God. Don’t spend your whole life looking for life, like Ponce DeLeon, because you’ve already got it. You’ve already got life. Your heart is beating, and there’s a reason for it. If Ponce DeLeon had realized the life he had, he could have done things so differently. He wouldn’t have wasted all those years. Don't waste your life looking for what you already have.