For Me To Live Is

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Just as Christ had no will of His own, but lived to fulfill the will of the Father we are to have no will or life of our own but to fulfill the will of Christ since we have His mind. Having His mind we should have His mindset.

Christ is everything and everything else is ancillary. If it is not of Christ's mind we should avoid it. If it is something that is a part of this earthly life then we must keep it in proper perspective and priority.

Christ is life which means He is above family, career or personal desires and everything else including us. Yes, we technically should be at the bottom of the list and yet so often we are number one. Sometimes we have spiritual moments when we actually move to number two or three, but honestly we are number one far more than we should be or even imagine ourselves to be.

The WWJD deal started out well, but it has become trite and cheap jewelry because often when we think we are asking WWJD we are asking what would I do and how do I coat it in Scripture so it looks like WWJD and not WWID.

What would it look like in your life if you really got a good dose of radical 1st Century faith? Would your career change? Would your church life change? Would you downsize to get out of debt so you have more time and money for Kingdom work? Would you come out of retirement and go on short or long term missions? Would your pastor have a MI because you volunteered for something? Would you really put your spiritual gift to work? Would your spouse and kids wonder who you are? Would people come to Christ and hurt sheep be healed and come back to the fold?

It is great to quote Scripture, but putting it in practice is more difficult. What is life? It is Christ and Him alone. Are you living the real Christian life or just the standard American blah form of Christianity? It is like a sack lunch sometimes. It will keep you from starving to death, but not the best meal you could desire. God has a far better steak meal for us if we will but come and partake.

We want the fire of Pentecost, but we will not provide the fuel God uses and that is our bodies as a living sacrifice. If all who live godly will suffer persecution, what has your faith cost you lately? If everything is flowing just beautifully are you really living like Christ who suffered abuse even when doing good and they eventually crucified Him? The student is not greater than the Master so where are your scars? If you are looking for life's "sweet spot" is Christ your life or an American mythical Christian life?

For you to live is _____?

Maranatha!