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3 Ways to Experience ‘The Good Life’ in Jesus

the good life

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel a little bit like a dog chasing a car. Maybe you feel the same way.

You’re putting in your time. Working hard. Paying your dues. Keeping your head down. But every once in a while, you look up and think, “When am I going to get to where I’m going? And where am I even going?”

Really, what we want to know is when we’re going to experience the good life. We all have this sense that there is a certain person we are supposed to become—the person God created us to be. And there’s a certain life that God intended for us to have—a life that is purposeful and fulfilling.

But there always seems like there’s just one more hurdle to get there. You work hard to graduate college only to be buried by student debt. You find a job, maybe even in the field you studied for, but it turns out that you don’t even like it.

Maybe you thought you’d be married by now, and that hasn’t worked out.

Then, a global pandemic hits. Tragedy strikes. Unexpected challenges come your way. And you just never really feel like you can get ahead.

I want you to know that Jesus is offering for you to step into the good life. And not after you graduate. Not after your debt is paid off. Not after you get the job you wanted. Not after you get married. Not after you buy a house. Not after you have 2.5 kids and a white picket fence and drive a Tesla. But in the here and now.

In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it abundantly.” And he wasn’t just talking about eternal life, payable on death. He was talking about everlasting life, where the realities of eternity break forth into the here and now.

By looking at Paul’s words in Romans 8, here are three insights into how we can begin experiencing that kind of a life in Jesus.

1. We Can Experience The Good Life In Jesus By Training Ourselves To Think Like Jesus.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8)

Paul says that those who set their minds on the flesh, the fundamentally broken things of humanity, will live in a way that is incongruent with who God created them to be. But the mind that is set on the Spirit is life and peace.

So if you train yourself to think like Jesus, who is completely united with the Holy Spirit, then you will begin to experience peace. The word “peace” here relates to this Hebrew idea of shalom. And shalom isn’t just peace in the sense that nobody’s yelling at you.