I like many am on a life long quest to live a 'good life'. As many people you ask you will get descriptions of the good life, yet there are some common themes. Most of us are looking for a life that is not overly complicated, stress is low, and we do not experience pain. Many are looking for a life where all they could ever imagine would be reality to them. When we turn to God, that expectation is often transferred. There is often an unsaid expectation that life will get better, or easier because we have realized our connection with God.
There is not shortage of people who would testify to the contrary. People who are deeply following after God, but their life is far from what would be considered the 'good life'. So has God let us down? Not in the least. The promise of Scripture is not the good life now, rather the good life comes when the ultimate renew happens. It is clear that in this life there will be struggle and strife. There will be pain and suffering. It will not be a easy life. Ah, but the struggle and suffering here will seem tiny compared to the glory revealed when Christ returns and renews all of creation.
That's right, delayed gratification. It hurts to even type those words. I am always hoping and looking for something a lot more immediate. If God is God, why can't I simply be given the good life now? I think it is because God is God that we are not simply given the good life. Not that we must earn it, or that we can even possibly earn it. No, we must experience the struggles and suffering as a refining tool in the hand of God.
No matter what level of struggle we face, God assures us through Paul, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing! That does not mean ever moment will be easy. What it does mean, is the good life is available to all people, it just looks different from God's view.
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