January 3, 2014

I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be. - Philippians 3:12

What did God save me for?  Why did He do so much just to give me the chance to choose Him?  What real benefit could I possibly have worth that kind of effort? 

God provided salvation for man because He is God.  Anything less would have been a contradiction to His character.  Every promise of God will always stand - God is truth.  Every person will always be cared for - God is love.  The irony is that the Creator cares for and loves me so much more than I care for or love myself.  He does this while knowing me better than I know myself.  It is a depth of love I do not understand and beyond my computational mental powers of reason.  And this is how and why I know that it is God.

I have no benefit to mankind on this Earth.  If I use my maximum talents based solely on my thoughts and feelings I will only destroy others.  The only benefit possible for me to others is to open myself up and let God teach, coach, guide, and father me to His character.   Nothing else is life and nothing else is love.  Everything else will fail and not stand or be a false concern.  Therefore, the only worthwhile lasting and eternal effort must be the one that seeks, learns, corrects, and values more than all the things in this world the Spirit and character of God.

The only benefit I can have to the living is to be changed from the inside out to be as much like Jesus as possible.  If I have a God heart to love and a God spirit to live and God arms to work then God can love, live, and work through me.  Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "... it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me ...". 

Am I willing to be crucified?  Am I willing to sacrifice all of myself so that Christ can live in me and overcome me?  Paul clarifies in Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.".  Until I am willing to completely let go of myself, Christ will not love, live, and work through me.

Lyndon B. Johnson said, "Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose."  I would modify this to say, "today is ours to win or lose."  How can I focus my thoughts, my actions, my awareness of what's around me, what I see and hear, or what I say so that I am reaching for God with a seeking and learning heart?  It must be intentional.  I must "keep working" on it looking for God's hand knowing it is extended and working all around me.