Living in Christ

Christians are commanded to lose their lives. This does not mean that we seek death, or that we turn away from life itself. Rather, it means that we ought to deliberately release our lives to God and His kingdom. One of the greatest hindrances to us being on mission with God will be our view of what constitutes our "legitimate rights." That is, those things that we feel we have a right to experience and enjoy. It's not difficult to turn over to Christ those things that are not a sacrifice or that we would prefer to do without anyway. But, it is the things that are good and that are dear to us that may stand between us and God's will. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 16:25. Let's look at some examples: It's good to be near our grown children and grandchildren, but God may want us to go to another city or even another continent on mission with Him. It's good t...

The world will tell us that the dominating influence in our life is our past. If we came from a difficult home life, that will determine the direction of our life. If our culture has treated us unfairly, that will dictate the condition of our life today. If we were hurt or abused or if our youth was spent in rebellion, the remainder of our life will be spent in struggling with our past. I believe the world is preoccupied with the past because it faces an uncertain future. Christians, on the other hand, are supposed to live in freedom because Christ has overcome our past. The "old things" have been done away with and "new things" have come. See 2 Cor 5:17. God has so totally forgiven the Christian's sin that He chooses not to remember it. Christians do not forget the past; but we should not be controlled or motivated by it. Christians should be looking to the future with hope! "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I d...

I have felt it, and I know you have too. The temptation to give up on God's people! They are so imperfect and can be so sinful, still, they are His people too. Who am I talking about? All of us! Believers and non-believers alike. We are all created by the Creator. We are all God's people. However, there are some of us that would disagree with that statement. Still, the Bible teaches that all humanity is the design of Almighty God. You know, Samuel found himself in the same situation in dealing with God's people. Samuel had thoroughly warned the Israelites of the dangers in appointing a king over Israel. Yet they wanted to be like the nations around them, insisting that they were willing to pay any price. Almost as soon as the people were granted their desire, they recognized their sin. But it was too late. What was Samuel to do? They had ignored all his warnings. Now they wanted him to continue to minister to them. I think that it would seem appropriate fo...

There will be times in our walk with God that we will feel so worn out and stressed, we will not want to take another step. We may feel that we spend all our time running from crisis to crisis and constantly giving our time and energy to others. Our Lord wants to renew our strength and enable us to enjoy the abundant life He intends for us. The key, is to wait upon Him to do so! "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31. One thing about our generation today, we do not like to wait for anything. We want everything we desire right now! We are harried by all the commitments we have made and the many responsibilities we hold. We rush through our lives without stopping to evaluate our activities. Sometimes in our rush to get on with our work, we race ahead of God. We need to realize that part of God's restorative process is to ...

Do you know that it is by faith that God's mighty power is released into our life? I believe that when we doubt, that is an indication that we do not know God as we should. If our prayer life is infiltrated with doubts, we have denied ourselves the greatest, single avenue of power that God has made available to us. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. And I believe that God never comforts us in our doubt. Jesus consistently rebuked those who would not believe Him. He had revealed enough of Himself for His disciples to have believed in their time of need. "Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm." Matthew 8:25-26. God wants to build our understanding of Him until our faith is sufficient to trust and obey Him in each and every ...

There are many motivations in our lives as Christians. I believe that one that should motivate us all to action is the awareness that one day we will give an account of our life to Christ. Many of us believe that Christians will be ushered into heaven with no questions asked about our faithfulness during our life on earth, but that is not what Scripture says will happen. Consider: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10. Paul cautioned us that in the final day of judgment every Christian will give an account for his or her actions upon earth. This expectation terrified Paul and motivated him to strive to please God in everything he did. Paul knew that although he might ignore the Spirit's quiet voice during his life on earth, a time of accounting would come when he would have to explain why he had rejected God's inst...

Confession is God's provision to clear obstacles that hinder our relationships with God and with others. Confession is not just for those who don't mind admitting their faults. Confession is a command, and it is given to every Christian! When we sin, it is important for us to confess not only to God, but also to our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith. There is a tremendous freedom that comes as we openly acknowledge the sinfulness of our actions to others. "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16. If confession does not come out of repentance, it is merely an admission, and not a true confession. It is important to confess our sins specifically and not hide behind generalities. It is one thing to pray, "O Lord, forgive my sin." It is another thing to identify specifically our sin in painful honesty. Whenever possible, ...