Your pursuit of “The Good Life” is a significant reason why your life is filled with such stress, frustration, and a lack of joy and peace.

Bold, I know 🙂

“The Good Life” is a picture you have of the future, where if achieved, will provide you with security, fulfilment, peace, joy, and freedom.

For me, the “Good life” I had pursued for years (and still sometimes get sucked back into) was a life lived without financial restraints.

I believed if I could amass enough wealth, I’d insulate myself from stress and maximize my ability to enjoy life.

And my every aim was bent on attempting to form my life into that ideal future lifestyle.

Anytime a circumstance happened that I felt set me back from attaining it, I got anxious and frustrated.

A key employee quits.

A big project blows up in my face.

An unexpected expense at home

An investment goes south

Sales numbers not moving as quickly as I want.

All of these things aren’t just problems to be solved, they’re threats.

So, what would I do?

I’d jump right back into hyperdrive in an attempt to correct it. I’d work even harder, put in even more energy and effort, obsess over how to turn this ship in the right direction again.

Have you ever wondered why you get so easily irritated at your employees, leaders, or even your own family in those moments where things in the business feel like one step forward, two steps back?

Is it possible that it has nothing to do with them and 100% to do with the fact that you believe this present situation is pulling you further away from your own version of “The Good Life?”

Is it possible that the reason you feel like you’re not “winning” at times has more to do with how you feel like you’re getting farther from this destination you’ve made up in your mind?

…a destination that will somehow solve all of your problems and rid you of all the burden of stress and pressure you constantly feel?

Here’s what’s really stressing you out:

You believe you’re losing control.

You’re convinced you know exactly how life “ought” to go in order for you to be happy, free, and live at peace and it’s NOT going in that direction!

However, let’s pause for a second.

How many times in your life have you “known” things ought to go a certain way, they didn’t, and then you realize the direction life/business went (even if it was hard) was FAR better than you could have planned?

What if instead of getting anxious, going into a furious frenzy in an attempt to regain some semblance of control, we paused for a second and got curious.

“I wonder what God is up to right now?

What does He want me to see?

What is this revealing in my heart that He’s wanting to heal?”

God’s highest aim for us is not that we are healthy, wealthy, and live a life of material prosperity, ease and comfort.

He may provide some of those things for us. But what He’s ultimately up to is preparing us for our eternal home, not this blink-of-an-eye life we’re living now.

Because the greatest joys aren’t found in fashioning a life together of financial prosperity,

it’s found in stripping away the selfishness and rebellion in our hearts

so that we can take hold of that which “is truly life indeed”.

Do we still not understand this? That Jesus CAME so that we might have THE Good Life?

Man, I struggle with this.

But that’s the battle we’re fighting.
A battle for our hearts.

Refuse to make your version of “The Good Life” your primary aim in this life and set your sights on Christ and watch how your stress melts off.

You’re the steward.
He’s the Owner.
He’s in control.

You only have to surrender to His loving plan and release your grip over your so-called “Good Life”.