"We are called to die." We are not called to live an easy, comfort filled life, practicing our religion from the cozy confines of our home. We are called to die. We are not called to live.
As a Christian who likes my own comforts, I often forget about our true calling in Christ. I forget that it is not my will, but God's will. I forget that I am to be following hard after Christ, not myself. I have read most of Thomas A Kempis' book "Of the Imitation of Christ," and after recently flipping through it again, I came across this short passage:
"'He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness,' (John 8:12) saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished how we ought to imitate His life and manners, if we will be truly enlightened, and be delivered from all blindness of heart. Let us therefore our chiefest endeavour be, to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ. [...] But whosoever would fully and feelingly understand the words of Christ, must endeavour to conform his life wholly to the life of Christ. [...] Vanity it is, to wish to live long, and to be careless to live well. It is vanity to mind only this present life, and not to foresee those things which are to come. It is vanity to set thy love on that which speedily passeth away, and not to hasten thither where everlasting joy abideth. [...] Endeavour therefore to withdraw thy heart from the love of visible things, and to turn thyself to the invisible" (3-4).
Conforming our lives wholly to that of Christ's is not an easy calling. Taking up the cross and following Him is definitely not my first tendancy. However, it is rewarding and promises eternal gain with God. I have been blessed to be able to participate in some summer seminary classes through my church. One of the classes focuses on the history of the Church, specifically on the history of doctrine. The other class is an intensive study on the book of Ephesians. Coupled with both of these classes is a focus on ministry and on missions and what our role in that area should be. Last night we talked about our true calling, and for me it was a sweet time of being realigned with my purpose in Christ. Like I said before, so often I lose sight of what's important. I get caught up in the present and in my pride. I get caught up in the fact that my life might comprise of one embarrasing moment to the next. I start to focus on making my own life worthwhile to me, forgetting that that is God's job. Should I be chosen to physically die in this life for the sake of the Gospel, then that is God's perfect will and plan. I only pray that I would be willing and courageous to take up my cross. All other things pale in comparison to God's perfection and holiness. My life of mistakes does not matter. It lasts only for a moment. What matters is whether me is my focus, or God. Wow. Being called to die is huge, but being called to die for Christ is a call worth answering. Let us, let me, as Christians in the 21st century, not be afraid to wholly and completely trust in God, knowing that our calling is not in vain.
5 comments:
I was so challenged by what Mr.Pastor said on Wednesday. However, it really convicted me of sin. There are things in my life that I don't want to "die", particularly my dreams of writing and leaving a mark on other people through that. In a way, I would almost rather do something dangerous and risky like overseas mission work instead of give up my goals. It almost seems like an easier sacrifice to make becuase of how difficult it is to give up what I want. I was very humbled and challenged when Wes gave his little spiel, as I feel God calling me more and more to give everything up to Him. So I resonate with what you had to say, Elisabeth.
thank you for sharing.
and just for clarification, I didn't mean that we need to go out and do something amazing in order to die to ourselves. There are countless ways to do that in the home, especially if you live with anybody other than yourself.
One could argue that we are called to "Live", and that dying is just a necessary by-product. (And a by-product not of our own making at that.) (Rom 6:3-11).
But I nitpick. Your desires and conclusions are good and speak to the truth in a way that is edifying to your readers.
Even better, your conclusion speaks to having put all of these things in a right context... "What matters is whether me is my focus, or God." Yes! (Not the best grammar, but Right on! )
Without this right context, it can be a concern that all of this dying, conforming, and imitating becomes just another way of focusing on self, instead of on the LIFE you've already exhanged your "old man" for.
Depending on the context, being an imitator of Christ (and His death) is simply not the same is "putting on Christ" (and His death). The difference is a subtle one. But my prayer for you is that it makes all the difference.
I'm going to let someone else's words ramble on now. He says it better than I could:
God, desiring that we should not perish, did not give us "eternal life", but gave us His only Son to be our Life.
"But put ye on the Lord Jesus, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts (Romans 13:14)."
"Put on the New Man, created in God's own Righteousness and true Holiness (Ephesians 4:24)."
What is the Christian Life? It is leaving our ground altogether and coming onto the ground of Christ. It is deeper than a changed life - it is an exchanged life. Over time we can accomplish a change, but we can do nothing to exchange our life for His Life. This, from start to finish, is God's work, and it is a work of grace.
His "doing" flows out of His "being" - and OUR "doing" flows out of His "being" as well. The old man (self) is put off, and the New Man (Christ) is put on - this is Christianity.
When we truly see the New Man we transcend the old man. And this, in a nutshell, is how God accomplishes the work of decreasing us and increasing Christ.
Praise God! We are not laying down a rule for Christian life and saying that in order to be a good Christian you must start doing this, that and the other, and then you must stop doing this thing or that thing. That is the natural approach.
Make no mistake, Paul's writings do gives us a lot of instruction regarding our conduct, but it is always based on who we are in Christ, not who we hope to be in ourselves.
God's Solution to the problem of sin, self, and satan is to have us put on the Lord Jesus.
We dare not make it more complicated when the Lord has made it simple. To focus on our flesh and on our enemy is a huge waste of time.
It is not about me, my flesh, or the devil - it is all about Christ, and as He is increased, none of these other things can do anything but be decreased.
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate your thoughts and elaborations. I am praying daily that Christ would be increased in my life and in general, since He will be increased by all, either now or at the day of judgment.
BTW, I've pretty much narrowed down your identity thus far: You can't possibly be anyone under the age of 13. That still leaves us a huge range of possibilities. Any other clues??
"One could argue that we are called to "Live", and that dying is just a necessary by-product."
One could also argue that we are called to live only in reference to Christ, as we are called to die only in reference to ourselves (and necessarily implying our sinful nature).
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