The fear that good people have about the gospel of Jesus Christ is, where is the balance!
If I die to self and live for Christ, If I lose my personal agenda for God’s agenda, if I die to ambition and prioritize God’s will, what will become of me? What will become of my Career? What will become of my dreams? What will happen to my money? Where will I derive my sense of value?
It’s a question that shows we still value this life! We don’t realize the value of what Jesus came to do and the uselessness of life any other way. Listen, you were heading for a meaningless eternity. You were scheduled for Hell! You were heading for an eternity of torture and pain, you had assaulted the highest! You were born into a damaged race, it didn’t happen from you, it happened before you!
Paint this life with sparkling colors! Deck it with precious stones! Redefine luxury, and imagine every moment filled with ecstasy, it would not make this life any better in eternity! This life was useless from the moment man fell, there is no agenda or ambition outside Christ that will survive for a billion years! This world is a screen saver! If you shake the mouse, you’ll see that this is just a matrix! Outside of Christ, the richest of us is wretched, stinking and naked! Open your eyes, what makes this life alluring is the devil’s deception.
How then do I balance my life now? Accept that your life does not exist! You were crucified with Christ! The life you now live is Christ’s! If that thought makes you imagine a passive future, then you are grossly mistaken. Jesus was not passive, Peter was not passive, neither was Paul – self acclaimed least of the apostles. The life in Christ is rigorously hardworking! Serving God is not merely prayer and worship – much of that is done to serve self these days! Serving God is engaging in commerce, engaging in business, engaging in nationhood, but engaging understanding clearly that the clarion call is discipleship. All engagement is to disciple a few! All! Every work place is a platform for a greater work! Everything you live for and die for will perish outside Christ! You must settle this before the day you breathe your last!
So how do I live as a student? With the passion of one for whom Christ died! I must be his example within my class. They must make friends with God at my action and words! What manner of professional ought I to be – Just as he is just! I must serve the lowest to be considered great in God’s kingdom. I must wake up early and sleep late, not because I want to achieve any ambition, but for the honor of the hallowed name I breathe for. As a Parent, what kind of father must I be?
I must understand that I have no Children, only the ones that the Lord would have me steward to eternal life. As a parent, my children are my disciples, from physical offspring I must utilize God’s privilege to make them God’s spiritual offspring. As as Entrepreneur, my business is a platform for Jesus to have expression. My fair dealing with all coupled with my words should lead people to God!
Jesus declared it, a time is coming when because I live, you will live. (John 14). We are the ones he relies on to give his life expression. To pursue anything else outside of Christ is adultery. To seek Christ as a means to an end that is not God is idolatry. Christ and his focus, must be the heartbeat of our lives!
Selah!
