Live Like You Are Dying
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
I have been praying about a study I am working on for the India trip; a study on the Spiritual Disciplines, such as prayer, meditation, and fasting. All of these have a spine of the measure of your heart of love for your Lord. Without the heart of love, these disciplines become meaningless; they become another religious duty to falsely self-fulfill your salvation. A heart not born out of love for your Savior, is a heart that becomes hardened to the drudgery of the duty of religion. We fulfill these duties along with Sunday’s, and seemingly think we are headed to heaven while we live the other six days a week for all this world offers. Is that the picture that the Apostle Paul wrote of above? That is the measure of a heart for Christ; nothing else matters unto death except to live for the One who gives you eternal life. To consecrate your life for the One who provides the opportunity for eternal paradise with him. To live every aspect of your daily life pursuing righteousness; to seek to abide by the law and to live for the rewards that await you with him. To not focus on the troubles of the day, to not worry about the future, to live for the joy found in him, the security found through him, and the peace the world cannot provide. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Paul was in prison writing this epistle; Paul didn’t know whether he would live or die when writing this letter to the church at Phillipi. Paul only sought to point all that God put around him to their need for Jesus, to share the hope that lied within him. To show that even prison, nor the fear of death, could weaken his faith. Paul understood God was letting him be there; God had a design for him there; God was using him mightily there to encourage a people group previously unreached. 12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Everything about this world, every day in this world, Satan tries to steal away your joy as a Christian. Every bad thing that comes your way has the ability to take your eyes off heaven. Many blame God, many question why to God, many fall victim to Satan’s attack and run from God due to some trial in their life. Why…….because they have not sought God, pursued God with a heart for him through the understanding of his Word. They have not prepared themselves for the spiritual warfare they have entered claiming Christianity. They have not sought God through the spiritual disciplines with a heart borne out of their love for Him. They have not consecrated their lives to him and lived like Paul; lived like they were dying, seeking to make every day count for the one who gave them eternal life.
oneminuteministry 