Life...

I've been doing some thinking, a lot, actually, about what kind of life I want to live. What do I want to characterize my life? I've seen what Americanized Christianity holds, and I don't want it. There is so much more than just going to church on Sundays, giving God 15 minutes of your time in devotions each day and praying over meals. I have been giving this a lot of thought, and yesterday at church, we were given a piece of paper to write some New Year's resolutions for our spiritual life. What I wrote turned out to be a bit more than just your average resolution. In fact it sums up how I want to live my life. Here is what I wrote

"This year (and the years to come as well.) I resolve to seek to know God more everyday, seeking to spend focused time with Him. I want to know Him more. I desire to live my whole life for Him, following where ever He leads. I don't want to go back to complacentcy or yielding to the flesh. I don't want to live a "normal" life. I desire to know Him more, and consequently, be a threat to Hell, yet unknown by the world, instead pointing all attention and glory to God. I am willing and ready to be a fool for Christ, despised and scorned, a spectacle if only to bring Him glory and point others to Him. I am His to use as He wants. I do not want to take pride in anything of me, but only to boast in suffering like Paul, to give the glory to God. It is not what I want, but what He wants. Whatever He wants to me to do, I will do it, for His glory."

This has been something that I have been realizing more and more. I want to say, as Paul did in Galatians 2:20, " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." I want to live a radical, poured out life for Christ. I don't want to get stuck in the rut of Americanized Christianity, where God is only a part of your life, and not everything. I want to pour out my life in following Him, living a life that overcomes, that isn't done in human strength or wisdom. I am willing to be different, ridiculed, and mocked. I want Him, and so I can say with Paul,
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:7-11)

He is the only thing that really matters in this life, and I want to pour out my life as an offering to Him, serving Him. It sounds crazy, and different, but I can't imagine a life any other way now! I believe that this kind of life is the only one worth living. Granted, it will look different for each of us. Some of us may go to some foreign country, risking it all to share the Gospel. Some may pour out their lives here in prayer and in quiet service.  All I know is that I want to radically pursue Him, being a living sacrifice! This is how I want to spend my life, no matter how short or long it may be. He gave His life for us; how can we give Him any less? Who will join me in no longer living, but Him living through me, giving everything to Him?

For Christ's Glory!