Jesus Is Our Life

3) The life I live.

Paul said in Gal. 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Does this mean that Paul did nothing but talk about Jesus or do ministry work 24/7? No. In fact, in Acts 18:3 we learn that Paul was a tentmaker.

Paul said in 1st Cor. 9:22 that he became all things to all men so some could be saved. That tells me that in order to win people to Christ, Paul took an interest in different things and talked about a variety of subjects to be able to relate to people.

Paul was human, just like us. He had other work and interests. But, nothing he did was as important to him as what he did for Jesus. And, his purpose in doing other things was to see how they may be used to bring people to Jesus. In Paul becoming all things to all men there was an end-game to doing that-so he could win some.

That's how we should be. We have jobs, hobbies and interests but are we focused on how these things can be used for the purposes of Christ? Do we look for who we might be able to build a relationship with at work so we can eventually share the gospel with them? What about the clubs we join or the social media we use? We may play a sport but are we thinking about how we can introduce our teammates to Jesus?

Being crucified with Christ and living our life by faith means we are doing all things with the mind and heart of Christ attached to it. We work and do many things outside of spiritual activities but in reality, we look to make all our activities into spiritual opportunities in one way or another. Why? Because Jesus gave himself for me, not just to redeem me but to use me for his purposes with the gifts he has given me and the platform he has given me to use those gifts.

If Jesus is a part of your life then you'll engage with him at church or bible study and when you pray or read the bible. But if he is your life then not only will you be engaged at the times I just mentioned, but every aspect of your life will somehow be connected to Jesus. In all that you do you'll be focused on being a good representative of him around all the people you come in contact with. You'll be focused on bringing him the glory in all your activities.

This goes with what Paul said in 1st Thess. 5:16-17, "Be joyful always; pray continually."

Does that mean we should have no other emotions? No. Does Paul mean we should do nothing but pray all day every day? No. It's about the mindset we're in. It's about the status of our spirit. If Jesus is our life we will be focused on praying anytime, anywhere. When a friend tells us some bad news our thoughts turn to prayer.

Being joyful always means although we'll display different emotions, the point comes when our thoughts turn to the Lord and our joy is found in being glad that we have him to turn to.

I just talked with a friend this week who's daughter suffered a serious medical situation. I asked how he was doing. He said the day they found out he was upset and not doing so well. But the next day he was doing much better. He was at peace and had given it over to the Lord. That's being joyful always; that's an indicator that Jesus is his life, not just part of his life.