The Good Life
The good life.
Living the dream.
Easy like Sunday morning.
A day in the sun.
Each of these phrases expresses the same core idea; our lives have the potential to amount to something better than they are now. And, in reality, we all live consciously or subconsciously driven towards that idea. It is why we go to work and build careers, have families, try to restore relationships, or even why we are generous and try to help others. We are convinced that the life we are living at this moment, right now, could become something so much more.
Can I let you in on a little secret?
The Bible actually agrees with you. … God wants us to live the good life.
It is actually what Paul will say to the arresting tribunal in Jerusalem. “And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” (Acts 23:1) His appeal at this moment is to declare to them to look at the substance of his life, how he has lived, and the fruit of his actions and to see that there is a better way to live and to do life. He is living proof.
The irony in this scene is that the very thing that gave him this good life is not what the tribunal was looking for. They were looking for pedigree, prominence, power, and influence. All of which Paul has in spades, and he acknowledges that. But, he points back to Jesus, the one who has changed and restored him. The source of his good life. Everything else is rubbish in comparison.
Paul will go on to say in his letter to the Philippian church that this good life is possible even in the midst of hardship, “7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Phil. 3:7-11)
We all yearn for the good life. And there is no life better or more resilient than the life given to us by Jesus. When we look at Paul, we see that reality. Not because of his pedigree, but because his life tells a powerfully important story.