Let’s talk about your best life for a minute.

Are you living it?

Do you ever worry that maybe you aren’t living it?

Could the entire concept possibly be a bunch of over-hyped self-help jargon designed to take advantage of our natural fear of missing out, prompting us to stress over largely unquantifiable variables in a misguided quest for optimum happiness?

. . . Eh, who’s to say?

The whole idea is kind of amusing, though.

Your best life.

Talk about swinging for the fences.

Do you have any idea how many variables are at play at any given moment in your life? And we’re just going to fixate on this idea of a “best possible life” as if any of us have a shot in the dark at corralling and controlling those variables in a way that results in the most optimal sequence of events?

Yikes. No pressure there.

What’s even the rubric for evaluating how you’re doing on that front? How are you supposed to know if you’re living your best life? Are you just supposed to instinctively know it when you see it?

But maybe I’m asking the concept to carry more weight than it was intended to bear. I think at its core, the idea of living your best life tends to be about living a life filled with as much happiness and as many good things as possible.

Who wouldn’t want that?

I want that.

But . . . is that really what your best life looks like?

I think we both know that’s not the case. There are too many scriptures—far too many scriptures—reminding us that “best life” and “most enjoyable life” are not synonymous.

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial” (James 1:12, ESV).

Yeah. Trials. Those exist in the life of the blessed person.

“All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

All will, not some might.

“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Must. Many.

Your best life will never be accurately measured in terms of the size of your home or the quality of your possessions. Your best life has nothing to do with the number of countries you’ve visited or the amount of vacations you’re able to take. Your best life is not a function of how many people like you or of how enjoyable you find your daily routine.

Your best life is the one spent living in harmony with God’s purpose for you.

Your best life is one spent growing and maturing as a child of God.

Your best life is one spent refusing to compromise with the lusts of the flesh, devoting yourself to cultivating the fruit of God’s Spirit.

Your best life involves trials. And hardships. And sadness. Because those are things you’re going to encounter on the way to the Kingdom, and God created you to be part of His Kingdom.

I hope your life is filled with good things. Happy things. Beautiful things. That’s what I want my life to be filled with, too. But understand this: You are not failing to live your best life just because it’s not filled with as many good, happy, and beautiful things as you hoped it would be.

You are only failing to live your best life when you are failing to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Make that priority number one, and God promises to take care of the rest.