Your Best Life Now isn’t just a best selling book by a prosperity gospel preacher, it is the widespread unbiblical movement that puts the focus ourselves in lieu of the One true God. God-centered worship songs, sermons, and Bible studies are being systematically replaced by felt needs songs, quick sermonettes, and spiritual sounding Bible studies. The self-focused your best life now message is in diametric opposition to what the Bible teaches. Everything we teach and preach in the church should be squarely focussed on bringing glory to God and nothing else.
This article has nothing to do with your socio-economic status or personal lifestyle because God has followers who are rich, poor, and middle income. What we are focussing on here is the me centered emotionalism that permeates our culture and is making strides into the church. Living for God’s will instead of for your best life now is the primary concern for true Christians regardless of socio-economics. The God-centered person understands that the Lord gives, takes away, and His name is to be blessed in every circumstance. Job 1:21
Me-centered self-focussed teaching is so popular now because it draws people in great numbers to hear something that will make them feel good about themselves. Teachers, evangelists, and pastors who deviate from the centrality of Jesus and put the focus on people are teaching a different gospel. Just because someone adds the name of Jesus to a sermon or book doesn’t make it biblically sound. There is a plethora of smiley preachers and leaders teaching things that are not found in scripture but they add Christian jargon or Jesus’ name to make it seem biblical. Many people eat this stuff up because they are accumulating teachers that will tickle their ears instead of teaching them the truth. 2 Peter 2:1-3
I want to warn you about unbiblical teachings by men and women who peddle a pseudo-gospel that entices people to focus on getting the most out of this life instead of giving every aspect of their life for God’s glory. The me-centered your best life now teaching isn’t something isolated to the television prosperity gospel preacher crowd. It takes a different form via the seeker sensitive gospel message spreading through many churches. In an effort to court the world and win it’s favor, many have diluted the gospel message of sin, judgment, repentance, and atonement and replaced it with a focus on self-improvement, self-esteem, and being culturally relevant. The gospel has been relevant for 2,000 years. It is the only message that will truly transform people so that they can live life for Jesus, not themselves. Jesus told us to count the cost of following Him. In the twisted teachings of having your best life now, there is no dying to self, taking up your cross, or living for God’s glory. Instead, you can live for yourself, have all you imagine, and be favored and well thought of by almost everyone. John 16:33
The approach and methodologies are multifaceted but the underlying message is always the same and goes something like this:
God has a plan for your life, you have a God-shaped hole in your heart, or you were meant for something greater. Slip your hand up, come down front, or sign a commitment card and you can have a new life. They might have been told something along these lines: You will live more fully, richly, or abundantly. You should expect an enhanced family life, financial outlook, and a place for the whole family to feel welcome if you just come in. Many of these people slip through the cracks and we assume they are saved. We might even get them involved in membership or various activities in the church but many of them have never come to a saving faith in Jesus. Matthew 16:24
This is why the lie of me-centric false gospel message of your best life now becomes so dangerous. In an effort to reach more people and to get them into fellowship at any cost, some have used salesmanship and the promise of a better life to get people in.
Let’s face it, life enhancement with heaven thrown in will sell because it requires nothing of the person. A conversion minus repentance really isn’t a conversion at all. In all likelihood, you don’t have a convert to disciple, you have an attendee because they probably never came to repentance and saving faith in Jesus. This is an eternally tragic reality. Grace is only amazing if we understand how holy God is, how wretched we are, and despite this, he still sent his Son to die for our sins because of his great love for us.
When the best life now and me-centered false gospel message is preached we think of having favor with all people, mass acceptance, and being well respected. We might expect promotions, great salaries, better vehicles, or beautiful homes. Even outside of the prosperity message, many are teaching that if we can just get our finances in order and build this picture perfect family, it will be evidence of God’s blessing. While on the surface, being good financial stewards and striving for a better family is good, if the desired end result is how good it will make us feel or look, it is idolatry wrapped up in spiritual sounding speech. If we are simply following Jesus for life enhancement, we will be following a different Jesus. We can’t become the Christian life version of seven habits of highly effective people. Nor can we become the Christian poster family for the book, ‘How to win friends and influence people.’ Jesus didn’t come to make people better versions of themselves, He came to make them dead to self and alive in Him. Galatians 2:20
The your best life now, me-centered, self esteem seminars passing for sermons wouldn’t make sense to the 1st century Christians who understood that becoming a follower of Jesus wasn’t a life enhancement, but a probable death sentence. The best life now and seeker-sensitive gospel being taught increasingly in the West is unfathomable to the underground church in China, North Korea, or India where believers are persecuted for following Jesus. Christians down through the centuries and believers currently living in areas hostile to the gospel understand the absolute necessity of living for your best life later, not now. Revelation 3:21
While many outside and inside the church are pursuing their best life now, let’s briefly look at what it means to live our best life later. Living for your best life later means that you aren’t focussed on what you can get out of this life. It means you are living with the focus squarely on making much of Jesus. This is living in such a way that no matter what happens in life, you bring glory to God regardless of what is going on around you. A cancer diagnosis, the death of a loved one, unsaved spouse, lost job, dwindling savings, unforeseen hardships, prolonged sickness or anything else you may go through will not stop you from loving Jesus because you are firmly secure in him. Living for your best life later means that you don’t have to spend all of your time obsessing about building your wealth, having the perfect family, protecting your reputation, or upward mobility. Living for your best life later means giving God glory through good stewardship, shepherding or caring for your family, maintaining a godly character, and working as unto the Lord. This is the mark of a man, woman, or young person who is a disciple of Christ. Philippians 4:11-13
When I talk about your best life later that doesn’t mean that you won’t have a great life. It simply means that the definition of a great life to the believer is drastically different than that of the world. The world and certainly teachers of a false gospel equivocate a great life with money, fame, fortune, admiration, and anything else the mind can conjure up. A disciple of Jesus will have hard trials, but their joy will remain. They may lose some friends and even family for following Jesus but they know a friend that sticks closer than a brother. They may have a spouse who wants nothing to do with Jesus or has walked out. The Christian rests in the fact that Jesus will never leave and is with them until the end of the age. In times of plenty, the believer knows where the abundance comes from and they bless God’s name in times of need. Living for your best life later means that we are off of the treadmill of self and are doing all things for God’s glory. The times of amassing things, reputation, glory, and praise for ourselves are past and now we are laying up
treasures in heaven. Galatians 6:6-10
When we carefully inspect everything we do, say or think in this life, one question remains. Did we do everything for God’s glory? We must live with the Judgement Seat of Christ (Bema Seat) in clear view. If we understand that we are going to give an account to the Lord for every aspect of our lives, that should radically alter the way we live, treat people, and serve God. In the future, after we appear at the Judgement Seat of Christ, the only thing that will matter is that we rejected the lie of having our best life now for our best life later. If you want to know more about following Jesus, please write to us here: Contact us
All for Him,
Howard
Link to article: Bema Seat Living
