“Life is not worth living until you have found something worth dying for”
These words echoed around my head when I first heard them… I spent the proceeding minutes allowing them to sink in, and my thought process reached critical mass, do I believe in God or don’t I? if the answer is “No” I have been living a lie, if the answer is “Yes” the way I live my life needs to change.
After some thought I reached the inescapable conclusion, there is indeed a God… a God who loved me enough to sacrifice his own Son that I could have life, in view of these facts, I realized this was something worth dying for, and if it is worth dying for, then it is certainly worth living for.
If we agree there is a Great Controversy going on between good and evil / Christ and satan it is obvious that a side must be chosen. In this struggle there is sadly no room for mediocrity, apathy or “fence sitters” there rarely is in wars…
Ok, God is real, worth dying for and we have a war on our hands how does this impact my life, well, step one is to get to know my Boss better, as one draws closer to God his voice becomes clearer, but just like if you are at a noisy party or on the tarmac next to a jet that is taking off, it won’t matter how close your friend is to you, it is always going to be hard to hear them because of the noise going on around you. It is the same with God you can get closer to him but until you clear the static out of your life you won’t be able to hear what he is saying…
Now I am not telling you to run out and burn all your worldly possessions, I am saying in my life, anything that separates me from God has to go, whatever makes the voice of the Holy Spirit less audible has to go, for a man of my interests that means most of my music must go, (this one was a long and tough struggle to decide) music was designed to worship God so I choose to only fill my mind with heavenly music.
It means most of what I watched on TV had to go, most movies too, in many cases it is not that they are “Bad Things” in and of themselves, but they are things that take many hours out of my life and give me nothing in return, in turn taking time I could be spending with God, same with much of what I did on the internet, it was just to while away time where now I am in the process or regulating myself down to the things I perceive to be of value, using it to communicate with friends, Design and necessary research.
Like it says in Phillippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Well that was phase one, reconstructing my personal life, as it has been some time since making the above changes I am happy to report, that while is is not the magic bullet to a trouble-free life or anything like that, it has certainly done amazing things for me spiritually, my study of scripture has become more meaningful, generally my attention span is much better, as is my relationship with my family (as they adopted similar changes soon after)
Now back to my main point, if you are really willing to die for something you must be willing to sacrifice things in your life the amazing thing is, once you give up those things it is amazing, not only do I not think of them, but I now actually have a distaste for them… that shows you what the Holy spirit can do in your life…
Before you label me some kooky legalist, please understand… you live a righteous life and are obedient because you Love the Savior, never in order to BE saved, works cannot save you, for by GRACE are you saved THROUGH FAITH in Jesus.
If you don’t see things the same way I am not here to bash you with it,
but I am more than happy to discuss this with anyone.
God Bless.
I’m so glad you are blogging again. I love reading your stuff!!!
I can endorse every word of your posts. As only a mother can… i see yout struggles and the euphoric joy of each victory for Christ.. both big and small.
As a family, we have held tight to eachother and walked cautiously toward the beckoning of our Saviour. Sometimes stumbling along the way. The decision to Remove the ‘static’ that once engulfed our lives, has been an huge task but God has blessed us more than we could ever have imagined. We live on top of a mountain, overlooking the sea. Each day,..Together.. We now see and hear the world waking up. The cry of the sea eagle…. the chatter of the parrots… the dance of the passion-flowers on the vine in the mist. We watch every dawn together.. with our Lord. His gentle prompting, no longer shrouded in the noise of obligations or the idle ramblings of the media, but clear and sure guidance from his word in the stillness of first light.. We made a choice. I am sure it has been viewed by our friends and family as odd…. but Oh what blessings cascaded from Heaven with a torrent that is hard to contain. Each of us, has become BOLD for the Lord ! We are not afraid to look like FOOLS… for the Lord. The freedom and the peace that this decision has brought to our lives, can only be by the hand of God.! Luke… you are our son.. and we have spent your whole life sharing our knowledge of Jesus with you, but,.. when it came time for you to be a man… it was your own private and intense search for truth, that saw you stand with the one true God. Then… through that intense desire to know Him better… He gave you vission and understanding beyond your years, and through your passion to remain at His feet… you resqued us. We are not immune to the frustrations and heartaches that come our way,but,.. nothing changes the facts. Fact 1 : We were created by our loving Father in Heaven. Fact 2: We are locked into a battle with satan, who wants us to suffer because he has fallen from the Grace of God, and is lost, through his own choices. Fact 3 : We are the Winners.. because of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who gave his life for ours. Fact 4 : Nothing can change these 4 facts. We love you with all our hearts.. and are proud of the true man of God that you are.
Our Eternity… is now, in the Masters hands. Trust His Judgements as we continually strive toward the goal………. and Live !