Verse of the day: Philippians
1:21 For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.
The Apostle Paul was a great example of a life
lived for Christ. Christ was his aim in life. So many of us look for our
purpose in life, and often fail to find it, wasting much of it doing things
that have no eternal worth. Many of us want to live our lives for Christ, but
allow the world, and our own desire for worldly pleasures, to distract us from
doing what is necessary to live for the Lord. How does our life become a life
that is fully dedicated to Christ? We must purpose to know Him. This first
begins with our decision to call on Him, and accept Him as Savior and Lord. We
must then do all we can to become fully acquainted with who He is and what His
plan is for our lives. This will require much prayer and the study of His Word.
Sadly, many of us do not spend the kind of time needed, in His Word, to become
that familiar with the One who gave His life for us. We must be willing to give
Him room to demonstrate His power in our lives, especially during the time that
we suffer for His sake (Phil 3:10). We must stop trying to be self-sufficient,
and allow Him to be God in our lives, obeying His commands and doing all we can
to allow the Spirit to work in us so that we are imitating Him in our words,
actions, and deeds toward others. In all that we do, we must always look for
opportunities to share the Gospel with the lost. This might mean simply living
like we actually believe what we say we believe; being honest, choosing
righteousness, and truly loving God and others, putting self aside for the sake
of allowing God to open doors for us to preach His Gospel. A life lived for
Christ, a life that is Christ, is not a life that seems burdensome to live. It
truly is sad that we can stress ourselves, and live anxious lives, by all the
things that we try to fill them with; yet, the one thing that will bring us
great peace and joy is the one thing we put on the back burner every day, and
only turn to it if we have anything left over to give Him. The reality of the
Christian life is that Christ, prayer, and His Word, should be the priority,
and foundation, of a life lived for Jesus. Our daily communion with Jesus
should be the joy of our lives and the one thing we crave and pursue
wholeheartedly. The Apostle, now being a prisoner for the sake of the Gospel,
knew that it could cost him his life. Yet, because of the intimacy he shared
with Christ, he saw death as gain and not loss. In verse 23, he states that it
would be far better to face death and be with the Lord, but he selflessly
acknowledged that it would be better for the Philippians if he remained and
continued to minister Christ to them (v. 24-26). A life in Christ recognizes
the great blessing of leaving this life and being with the Lord forevermore,
but chooses selflessly to remain to continue to live out God’s plan, for His
glory. The saddest commentary we can hear from a child of God is one where we
want to remain here on this earth for selfish reasons; because we feel we have
not experienced all that we can, or because we will no longer see family or
friends, or because we feel that our family will not survive without us (as if
God were not already doing that or would continue to do it after we have gone
home to be with Him). The bottom line is that a life lived on earth, as a
Christian, should be one completely surrendered to knowing Jesus, and living
for Him, serving Him and those He puts before us. A life lived for Jesus is one
that wants to remain for the sake of blessing others, and glorifying God, all
the while yearning to leave this earth to gain the greater blessing of being in
the presence of the Lord (2 Cor 5:6-8).
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