What Does It Mean To Truly Flourish?
- Lane of Roses
- Apr 14
- 2 min read
We’ve all had good years and bad years. Moments when our answers on a human flourishing scale would be zero and moments when it would be 10 out of 10. This plight of humanity (chasing the better life) has been around since a snake and some forbidden fruit enticed us to want to be the God of our own lives (Genesis 3:1-15). Moses said it best in Psalm 90 when he said “But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble.” As much as we want to, we can’t escape pain and suffering.
With all the pain and suffering surrounding us it can be difficult to believe that God created us to flourish. He wants us to flourish, to have an abundant life. One filled with love, community, and joy. This truth is weaved as a constant thread throughout the entirety of Scripture through God’s use of words like “growth” and “prosper.” But here’s where humanity often gets it twisted. God certainly created us to thrive and prosper, but He never intended, nor did he create us, with the capacity to do so without Him. The only way that we can do so is by staying connected to Him. By believing Him and trusting Him with our lives and the lives of those we love.
Colossians 1:17 says, “For through (Christ) God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”
This Scripture has a lot of great stuff to unpack, but at the core of it is the reminder that it is through Christ that we are all created. He is the one who holds everything together. Who gives life purpose and meaning. His purpose for us, his reason for our existence, is right there in this little verse: we were created FOR HIM.
And, if that’s the case, then we know for certain that trying to flourish without Him would be impossible. It isn’t until we submit to the authority of God, and decide to truly trust in and follow Him that we prosper.
So, what’s the first step to living a life of human flourishing as God intended? Recognizing and living our lives from the reality that flourishing without Jesus isn’t really flourishing at all.
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