FUHGEDDABOUDIT
Are you living your best life? What does that even mean? How is it accomplished? Well, the internet associates living your best life with “happiness, reaching full potential, being intentional with life choices, and living life on your own terms.” Thank God for the internet because it goes on to describe exactly how to live your best life, “Be intentional,” it says. “Reimagine visualizations, crystalize clarity through meditation, release through a journal, see the world, prioritize your health, fall into the deepest love of self, boost your brain power, practice yoga, and be aware of the ego.” Interestingly, no mention of involving the God Who gave you life, in the live your best life process. It's okay, live your best life is not exactly a Biblical concept, despite the fact that a Christian Pastor helped to make the idea mainstream. Well-known Christian Pastor Joel Osteen jump-started the wave of best life inspirational books with his 2004 book Your Best Life Now, followed by a series of books, journals, and devotionals on the subject. And he is not the only one, there are hundreds of Self-help books by both Christian and secular authors that aim to help the reader live their best lives. Hats off to them, but why is this so important? Why focus so much on making the best of this life? It's almost like people think this is the only life you get, like you only live once.
The acronym YOLO, you only live once, cemented its place in history when it was added to the dictionary in 2006, along with words like Fuhgeddaboudit. Yes, you read that right, Fuhgeddaboudit, the northern colloquialism meaning to “forget about it,” is also in the dictionary. If nothing else, this proves that the standard for induction into the English language dictionary has seriously changed. Since the term was conceived in 1996, YOLO has only become more popular as a merchandise brand and the subject of music, books, podcasts, and even restaurants. The Latin phrase, Carpe diem, or “seize the day,” was the YOLO of 23 BC, coined by Roman poet Horace. Like YOLO, the idea is that the most be made of the present time.
Living your best life now is not a problem if you only live once. Living your best life now is a problem if this one life is not the only one you get. One of the trickiest things about the enemy is that he hides in plain sight behind trends and social factors that influence the masses. Once upon a time, there was a generation where most were focused on serving and pleasing God, now there are generations upon generations who have dedicated their lives to serving and pleasing themselves. How cunning of Satan to make us think it is all about us; “my goals, my dreams, my accomplishments, my best life.” Jesus has taken a back seat, that is, if He was ever even invited along for the ride.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, presents a very bleak portrayal of life. But if anyone was living his best life it was Solomon, why the negative perspective? Solomon was the royal heir of King David, he was a King himself, the third to sit on Israel’s throne. He had the world at his fingertips, money, fame, and women, so why such a disheartened perception of life? Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s presentation of what life without God looks like. With all of the privilege, opportunity, advantage, and access in his life, Solomon was in a unique position to examine how meaningful life truly was. Could he really live his best life? Could he have everything under the sun and attain a significant existence without God? “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun” (Eccl. 2:11).
From his glum point of view, Solomon forces the reader to consider the vanity and abruptness of this life. Even with all of the wisdom that God gave him, all of the fortune and success that he achieved, Solomon could not live his best life without God. Ecclesiastes is a portrait, a picture of life without God, the worst kind of life. As believers, we want to live lives that are pleasing unto the Lord, whatever form that takes for us individually. Our advantage is the ability to use this life to invest in the next. Remember the moth and rust that corrupts this world, the thieves that break through and steal (Matt. 6:19)? There is a place where that is not a factor, a place where we really can live our best lives. This earthly life is just a blip on the radar of existence. Personally, I am looking forward to the eternity that God has promised those who have accepted salvation through Jesus Christ. The idea of this earthly life being best, better than life in eternity is not appealing. Live my best life now? Fuhgeddaboudit!
