March, 2012 | Steve and Gwen Smith

Three Forces to OverCome to Live a Better Life!

When Things Get in the Way

There are at least three important forces to overcome to begin to live a better life-what I am calling The Jesus Life!

First, living The Jesus Life is counter-cultural. Our culture has gone wild and the mainstream of the cultural flow has almost nothing to do with Judeo-Christian heritage. Everything is permissible but not everything is advantageous to our spiritual lives. We have to remember this premise and we must be on guard about the fact that culture is perhaps shaping our minds and hearts more than Jesus Christ. To live the Jesus Life requires an upstream effort to swim against the cultural tides and ebbs and to simply attempt to live differently. You can’t live like the world does and expect to reap the fruits of the spiritual life. It’s just that simple.

Second, the Jesus Life is counter-intuitive. Shaped by the world, our tendencies are these: to live life alone; to pursue wealth at the expense of everyone and everything; to cram our lives full of events, meetings and obligations that we have no time to pause, slow down and live out of a healthy center of our souls. We live frayed lives not whole ones. We live divided, now satisfied and we live empty rather than fulfilled. To change this deadly pattern, we must learn to practice some spiritual exercises that will get our hearts and souls back into shape. I can’t run a marathon right now even if I wanted to. I’m not in shape for such a thing. But if I wanted to, then I’d need to practice and build up new reserves and muscles to be able to complete the task. The Jesus Life works in exactly the same way. We can’t live like Jesus without the practice of doing what he did. This is why in the book, The Jesus Life, I go into detail about living life differently in eight specific ways. We nourish the Jesus Life by doing simple things that foster the life to grow within us.

Third, the Jesus life seems counter productive in a world that constantly shouts at us this sick mantra: “Achieve, Acquire and Do!” Doug, a friend of mine said these three words are the haunting whispers he hears every single day and every single year of his 60 year old life. He wants a different life now. The first life didn’t work. This is how many of us feel these days. But to life the Jesus life, we must understand that the world has a different standard of productivity than Jesus did. For Jesus, his standard was a healthy, whole and fulfilling life—all adjectives trying to wrap their proverbial arms around Jesus’ best expression for life—the abundant life.

The abundant life is not the busy life. It is not the Baptist life and it is not the American life. We have to strip down our understanding of what Jesus truly meant when he said, “I came that you might have life.” Jesus wants us to live—and to live before we die—right here and right now.

I’m excited that The Jesus Life is now ready for release. You’re invited to live a new life—the life God wants for us—The Jesus Life.

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BREAKING NEWS

Here’s a link from AMAZON to “look inside” the book and even pre-order! We’ll be offering a great deal through Potter’s Inn regarding getting your copy of The Jesus Life. Potter’s Inn will give you a FREE copy of Embracing Soul Care by Stephen W. Smith when you order The Jesus Life. This will only be able for people who order through the blog! Keep looking because the offer will be up and running-maybe later this week!

Amazon Link, click here: https:/amzn.to/wVfMUj

“The Jesus Life stands to become the trusted primer on following Jesus well. It’s a rich meal, well prepared. Give yourself to this book and you’ll feel like you’ve got a hand to hold, a cheerleader, and a reliable guide on the only path that really matters.”

Paula Rinehart, author of Strong Women, Soft Hearts and Better Than My Dreams

Combating Busyness!

I’m convinced of this one thing: the pace of life that we are presently living is not sustainable. The wheels are going to come off the bus of our lives-and in many lives-this has already happened. Lives that once resembled someone who was truly alive now looks like carnage!

Constant availability is going to “do” us in. When we’re always on, always wired and always available, we never have the opportunity to refuel our souls. We live our lives on empty and through the barrenness and emptiness of our lives-we have the audacity to call our lives-the abundant life.

Living in a perpetual state of busyness is not the abundant life. Jesus had something MORE in mind when he alone promised a life could be enjoyed that was “rich and satisfying.”

Here are five things you can begin to do now to help you get off the hamster wheel and foster the abundant life:

1. Take short breaks during each work day to move away from your desk and take a brisk walk.

2. Pull away from social media for extended blocks of time. Rather than constantly checking email, Facebook and Twitter, use 15 minutes blocks to check in and interact.

3. Practicing sabbath-one day of total rest and pleasure is the kingpin of all life sustaining spiritual rhythms. Be a sabbath keeper this week! What day will work?

4. Plan on a life-giving meal with 2-3 of your most life giving friends. Linger together over a meal and enjoy the conversation!

5. Spend 15 minutes a day in silence-without silence it is virtually impossible to live the spiritual life. When we’re still-we hear from God! It does take time to de-clutter all the voices of the inner heart to begin to listen but this is why it’s called a spiritual discipline.

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“Steve Smith cuts through the religious paraphernalia and daily clutter that obstructs our path to lives of purpose and power, and he clearly explains the simplicity of The Jesus Life in the Kingdom of God. He has deep insights into how we have come to live the way we do, in church and out. With refreshing realism and wide-ranging knowledge, he helps us identify dear illusions that bog us down and introduces us to simple steps and arrangements that enable eternal living. The directions he gives are self-validating. We have only to ‘just do it.’ The Jesus Life would be ideal for real spiritual progress in small groups in church and in community. Serious individual engagement with it will bring assurance that the life praised in our songs and scriptures can be ours.”

Dallas Willard, author of The Divine Conspiracy

For more on this subject, please refer to Chapter 2-3 of The Jesus Life!