How do you go about your daily life? How do you live day-to-day? What is your attitude toward living? Have you ever stopped to think about how you approach living your life? Who are you living for? Are you living for and in the Son of God?
We know our lives are busy in today’s culture. We know we are on the go from place to place, whether it’s physical places or virtual places. We know we are tasked to do this and do that and there is always something left undone. Are we just fumbling through each day or are we facing each day with a faith that will give us the strength we need to continue?
We can get bogged down and even overwhelmed by the demands placed on us. Too often, we add to those demands ourselves by not planning properly. We feel pressure from our boss, our family, our friends, or any number of other outside sources to be in multiple places at once. We put pressure on ourselves not to let people down. There is certainly nothing wrong with doing what we can to support others. In fact, we are called to do just that.
How do we continue to go on when we are being worn thin? We must be strengthened by something or someone else. If we are not, we will eventually collapse. What or who do we turn to for the strength we need? There is only One source that will provide us with it.
When we are crucified with Christ and no longer live as ourselves, we gain the strength of Christ. Obviously, this doesn’t mean physical crucifixion. It means we give up our preferences, our desires and focus on the desires of Christ. It means we live with His mindset. It means we live our lives to carry out His plan.
This is difficult for us to do. We are conditioned by our culture to do what we want to do. We are focused on ourselves rather than on God. We are looking to satisfy our wants before we attend someone else’s needs. When we live this way, we are not living for or in Christ.
God offers us a much better life than we can imagine. He offers us a life of love, joy, and peace. He desires us to follow His plan. When we decide to follow His plan, follow Jesus’ way of living, our lives become better than we have experienced before.
The difficulty we have is giving up our wants to satisfy the deeper need we have to live with God. We look at satisfying short term wants rather than satisfying the eternal need. Yet, when we focus on our eternal need, we find our short term wants are satisfied beyond what we hoped for.
I pray we all decide to live our lives for Jesus. I pray we determine to live in Him. I pray each of us seek His plan for our lives. Live for Christ. Live in Him and allow Him to live in you. Have faith in Jesus. Know that He gave Himself up for you. Give yourself up for Him.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Marty Pressey 