As I mindlessly scroll through Facebook or Instagram sometimes I often come across pictures with captions, "Livin' their best life." They're usually hilarious and about people's kids, a thankful reprieve from politics. Usually if someone posts something politically minded I unfollow them anyway, even though I used to post a ton about politics as a younger man. There have been a few slips in the past few years but generally I stay away from entering discussions where I believe most people already have their minds made up anyway.
Scrolling mindlessly obviously isn't the best use of my time, I've read studies saying it increases your discontentment more often than not. Be that as it may, sometimes especially on the weekend evenings I get bored. I have been exercising more as of late but I'm not exactly training for an Ironman so it doesn't take up hours of my time. During this weird time of quarantine too it's tough to find enough to keep me occupied sometimes. I even took up sewing yesterday, what??!!
A small group I'm a part of is going through a study of Philippians and I'm reminded once more of the upside-down nature of God's kingdom. Our culture screams that it's all about ourselves and our wants, needs and desires. If we just buy this product or take that vacation, then we will finally be satisfied.
Everything comes up short though, doesn't it? The vacation that took our breath away is remembered through rose-colored glasses as we trudge through our mundane day to day existence. Even people who travel more as a lifestyle grow bored with it after a while. Trinkets satisfy for a short time as well, even the amazing home reno shows or people who buy their dream homes soon find flaws that make it less than perfect and are magnified as time goes by.
We keep trying to fill our soul's desires with things or experiences that satisfy for shorter and shorter periods of time as we get older. God, on the other hand, invites us deeper by a way of which at first seems rather counterintuitive. Philippians 2:3,4 admonishes us to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others above ourselves; not looking to our own interests but to the interests of others.
Elsewhere in Scripture Jesus teaches us it's better to give than receive. We are taught to Love God above all else and love our neighbor as ourselves. So, one place we're told to love our neighbor as ourselves and another to put their interests above our own.
All of these point to a central idea that we're not the point. In a culture that assures us we are the point with self-actualization being something to attain at all costs, it's a rather freeing idea, isn't it? We can be free of worrying about what others think of us because we're focused on serving God and His people.
Our best lives are not achieved when we climb the corporate ladder, take the fanciest vacation with mouse ears or to the most exotic location, or when we finally buy our dream home. Our best lives are only lived with Christ at the center and a humility that puts others' needs ahead of our own.
We all know one or a few if we're lucky that live this way. Fulfilled lives and deeply satisfied who have a way of making whoever they're talking to seem like the center of their attention. They're fully present wherever they are, paying someone actual full attention that even the best teachers can't seem to garner from their students.
Their lives are poured out for God and others, and they're almost intoxicating to be around. They have a zest for life most of us only dream about. We search for answers to life's deepest questions while they seem to have found something the rest of us are blind to. They actually follow the teachings of Jesus and as a result live their best lives daily. It's of course not easier than the average life, but it is better lived.
May we all aspire to lead such lives, ones that have Christ at the center and put others' needs ahead of our own. Then, and only then, will we truly be living our best lives.
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