Your Best Life: Now or Later?

Years ago, I heard a saying which went something like this: For Christians, the world we are currently living in will be the only hell-like experience that they’ll ever be exposed to.  And for unbelievers, this current world will be the only heaven-like experience that they’ll ever be exposed to.

So when I recently listened to an intriguing sermon from John MacArthur on the same subject, I was prompted to post it to my blog.  MacArthur based this sermon on a popular, best-selling book entitled, Your Best Life Now.  From what I understand, this book has been purchased and read by more people than any other Christian book in recent publishing history.  Here is an excerpt from MacArthur’s sermon exposing the deceiptful premise of the book: 

Out of curiosity, I want to know what’s in the book and so I found this on page 5, “God wants this to be the best time of your life.”  On another page it says, “Happy, successful, fulfilled individuals have learned how to live their best life now.  On another page it says, “As you put the principles found in these pages to work today, you will begin living your best life now.”  And that is absolutely true if you’re not a Christian.  This is it, you better get the book because your next life is going to be infinitely worse than this one.
 
This is your best life now.  In fact, it’s your only life because in the world to come, you will only exist in a perpetual state of dying with no hope, no satisfaction, no meaning, no joy and no future and no relief from eternal suffering.  That’s the worst life possible.  And this is your best life, if your next life is in hell. 
 
But, on the other hand, if you are a child of God and your sins are forgiven and you’ve come to embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is not even close to your best life.  You can’t even comprehend what your best life looks like because “Eye hasn’t seen, nor has ear heard the things that God has prepared for them that love Him.”

Contrary to what is popular today, even in religious circles, even in quote/unquote religion circles, even in the name of Jesus, the Lord is not promising you here and now a full, happy, rich, satisfying, trouble-free life of health, wealth and success.  Oh He does promise that.  Absolutely…a full, rich, satisfying, trouble-free life of health and wealth and success and absolute joy and peace and perfection…but not now…not now.  In fact, quite on the other hand, our Lord has promised to those who know Him and love Him in this life…trouble, persecution, rejection, difficulty, trials, temptation, pain, suffering, sorrow, sickness and even physical death.

So, for Christians, this is our worst life now.  It isn’t that it’s bad, but comparatively it’s the worst when you think about the life to come, which is the best.  Your best life as a Christian begins when this life ends.  Christians through the centuries have understood this, certainly the early Christians understood it.  The Bible makes it clear.  You just can’t expect all the promises that God has made to you for heaven to necessarily show up here.  Any sensible Christian understands that.  Don’t expect more than this life can deliver.

Here are links to the entire sermon audio and the full sermon transcript.

If my hope is only in Christ for the here and now, and if I am currently experiencing my best life now, and this world is all there is, I should be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Anyone who has lived in this fallen world for more than 5 minutes has some kind of internal expectation that is grounded in the hope that whatever comes next has to be much better than what is now.

Momento Mori.

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Tags: Christianity, Religion

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