The Christian Life

The Christian Life

James 4:13-15 “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what [shall be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye [ought] to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”

Mark 8:34-35 “Andwhenhehadcalledthepeople[untohim]with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”

As the years roll by we all tend to increasingly have questions about life. As Christians we know the general answers to the age-old questions, “Who am I?’ Where did I come from?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” At least we are not prone to say as so many do as they grow older, “Is this all there is?” We know our future is eternally assured in Christ Jesus. It is said that an old catechism stated the underlying purpose of life and eternity something like this, “Man’s chief end is to know God and glorify Him forever.” But sometimes even those with such sure foundations and noble intent seem to forget what life is all about. I ran across an article recently that sadly seems to confirm this tendency:

“In 1636 a group of Puritans founded Harvard University. Its motto was Christo et Ecclesiae, which means, ‘For Christ and the Church.’ One of the school’s guiding principles was this, ‘Everyone shall consider the main end of life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life’ (John 17:3) This prestigious center of learning and culture has long since abandoned its original spiritual intent. Even many Havard Divinity School faculty members now regard its Christ-centered goal as narrow-minded and outdated. If fact, not long ago a group of Havard students staged a mock funeral procession through the Divinity School They carried a coffin and proclaimed, ‘Our God, the Father, is dead.’ These students were as far from truth as east is from west. The everlasting Father, who has created all life, including those who mock Him, is as immune to death as He is to sin. Three hundred and sixty years after the establishment of Havard, the chief purpose of life is still and always will be, in the words of those colonial Puritans, ‘to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life.’ Let us make that the main goal of our life.” - Vernon Grounds

Not too long ago we saw our public television network, paid for with our tax dollars, screen a blasphemous documentary attacking the validity of the Bible and the deity of Jesus Christ. One of the chief so-called scholars involved was the President of that same divinity school. Even though we who know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord reject all such heresy out of hand, life for the Christian still entails a constant scriptural and practical evaluation and re-evaluation of the question, “Why am I here.”

We all accept the great positive assertions about life made by Paul and other Biblical writers as being true and patently obvious. He said, “For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain.” (Phil. 1:21) And “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

We also understand and accept our Saviour’s evaluation of the importance of the Christian life in time and eternity. He urges His followers to consider the concept that each one has a life to live for Him. Evidently the quality and quantity of that life will become evident at His Judgment Seat. He tells us that those who selfishly attempt to save their lives by living for themselves will ultimately lose it all when they stand before Him. Conversely, He informs us that those who selflishly lose themselves in His will and live their life for Him and His causes, will be gloriously vindicated and their life will shine as gold, silver and precious stone.

We can then logically conclude that this matter of scripturally defining and understanding the Christian life is all important. God inspired the writers of His Word to use a number of figures and metaphors to describe and convey to us in graphic and easily grasped images that place in the simplest terms just what life should be for the Christian. They are so commonly known and used by Christians, that we may tend to ignore or overlook the simple and down to earth lessons they hold for us. Let us look at, “What Is The Christian Life?”