Living in Overflow

By Pastor Mary Capper

Have you ever heard the saying: Live your best life? What does that even mean? What is your best life? …and who defines that for you? 

This phrase, Live your best life, has recently been defined by Ashlee Sang, a freelance writer and content strategist, as “living a life that makes you happy and allows you to be at your full potential. It’s about being intentional with how you live and living on your own terms. It also means leveling up to be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be.”

On the surface, there are some great things in this culturally relevant perspective on life: happiness, living to the full potential, intentionality, etc. The problem, however, is that culture is not meant to define how we live. Sang’s definition echoes society’s cultural reliance on self…not God. 

Romans 12:2 in the Message version says: 

“Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you…”

Here’s the thing, to live your BEST life, means that you follow the example of God and rely on HIM, not yourself, to develop well-formed maturity. He wants to change us from the inside out. Our purpose and example for living is found IN HIM. He created life because GOD IS life. We are forgiven because HE IS full of grace and mercy. The life we experience in God is from the overflow of who he is. 

If the overflow of your life impacted other peoples’ lives, what would their life look like? Would they experience the same life, grace, love, etc.?

Remember, the original design was that we were created in HIS image, not our own -- which must be redeemed…daily. Galatians 5:22-23 (MSG) says: 

“What happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, and serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”

Imagine encountering someone who lives in that generous overflow…or even better, what if YOU were that person for someone else today?