Don't Waste Your Life!

One of the greatest questions we can ask is "What am I doing with my life?" We hear so many different messages on how we should live our lives from the world today. Live your best life now, gain everything you can while your still alive, it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you believe in something, and on and on it goes. We live in a world that can easily be confusing. How as Christians do we respond to this question? How are we called to live our lives? God's Word is very clear on this crucial question on life! As Christians, we are called to DIE to Ourselves. John 15 tells that we are to abide in Christ, just as He abides in God the Father. We read in Leviticus we are called to "Be Holy as He is Holy." We are given the Ten Commandments as guidlines to what is right and what is wrong. Paul states that we are to "Pick up our Cross and follow Him." Okay, so maybe this isn't necessarily brand new to most that chooses to read this blog but here is the question. Do we really live this type of life? I hear more and more about how the Christian life is all about getting what we want from God and that God is all about making you comfortable. As I continue to grow in my faith and realize what life in Christ is all about, I see more and more a facade being put on by the church in the world today. I think about the words in 1 John that point out that there are false prophets surrounding us at all corners. I am appalled by how many different (Gospels) there are now in the world today. "Everyone goes to Heaven as long as they believe in something", "God is Love and He wouldn't send anyone to Hell", "God wants to prosper you according to all YOUR Wants", "Essentially, YOU are God" and it continues.... Anything that keeps people from being offended is acceptable and prefered! When is the last time you sat down and thought about the Cross? How can we look at the Cross, an incredible, essential truth within the context of the gospel and then say, "The gospel wasn't meant to be presented as to offend anyone." The Cross was used as a tool of destruction, torture, punishment and ridicule! So if we are to pick up our cross and follow Him then what are we to take from that? If we are to pick up OUR Cross, then the application of dying to oneself is already applied without Paul even having to point it out in the Bible! How are we living our lives? One of the most gruesome yet beautiful passages in scripture concerning how our lives are to reflect Christ is Galatians 2:20 which says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." When you have down time just look up the word crucify and you will get the picture if you don't already. As a man striving to live under the direction of God, I exhort you church! Don't Waste Your Life! Carry your cross and follow Him!Jesus Christ willingly stepped in our place so that the curse of sin would be defeated and we could have life victorious through Him by surrendering our lives to Him.

"Radical" by David Platt

David Platt recently wrote a book called "Radical". Platt discusses the void of radical lives that Jesus calls us to live within the body of the Church today. In today's generation of believers there has been a push for a reformatting of the Scripture. Many people in the church today have taken the words of Jesus and conformed them to what makes them most comfortable with. As the body of church we have found ourselves taking pieces of scripture such as "give up all of your possessions and follow me" and reformat them to say, "well, give up a few things and we can work the rest out". I know that I have found myself guilty of this very thing as well. As a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary I have been challenged to go deeper into the Word of God. I am most thankful that I have now completed the language of Greek that is required for my track at the Seminary, however I am persuaded by the power and influence of the Word to stretch my mind even more by taking advanced Greek language classes. I believe that David Platt has reached a crucial issue within the body of the church by stating that we have allowed the world to influence our application of the Word today. The Word of God states that the way is narrow to the kingdom of Heaven and Wide to the gate of destruction. We are called to live radical lives by Jesus in the gospel! If Christ called us to "die to self" and "pick up our cross and follow Him", then ladies and gentlemen we are called to a radical lifestyle that is very, very foreign to this World. There is no subtle way to apply something such as "die to self" or "carry your cross". These words mean exactly what is implied within the human mind. I am making my way through this book "Radical" and I hope to make more application as I continue through it. In the meantime I ask that if you claim that you love Jesus, live radical lives! The gospel is not an easy message to digest when one reads it but it does bring an eternal hope in the end! Jesus Christ, God the Son, is Savior and all that call on His name as Lord and turn from their depraved states in full reliance upon Him will inherit this precious promise that He gives!