Up until a year ago, life was all about me.
Sure, I was a Christian who loved God and people, but something was missing. My wife and I even spent four years in a ministry, but something was still sorely lacking in our lives. There had to be more to this Christian walk than just living like everyone else. Where was the joy? Where was the peace?
How was I any different than unbelievers? I would get mad when something didn’t go my way. I was easily frustrated. I let the opinions of other people shape my identity. I blamed God for the bad things that were happening in my life. I prayed and read my Bible, but they became acts of routine and not fellowship.
Then we started watching messages from Todd White and Dan Mohler. If you have never heard of these guys, I encourage you to look them up on YouTube. Wow. Up until that point, I had never heard truth preached as clear and sound. The scriptures came alive, and I felt a quickening in my Spirit that had long been reduced to nothing more than a pile of darkened embers.
I finally started to realize who I was in Christ, and everything changed.
Jesus makes it very clear what it takes to follow Him. We have to die to self. We have to give up something that we were never created for in the first place. We were never created for us. We were created for God.
I am going to be perfectly honest with you. I’m still growing into that revelation of truly dying to self. I have made huge progress though. Fortunately, it’s not something we have to try and accomplish on our own, because that would be impossible. We can’t wake up in the morning and “try” to be a good Christian. It begins with a more intimate relationship with our Father. It’s a daily process.
When we die to self, there is nothing else to do but become more like God. Ephesians says we are to be imitators of God. What is God? He is love. Our objective on this earth is to become love. Well, what does love look like? It looks like Jesus. Jesus was the visible image of an invisible God. He was love personified. He modeled the Christian life that we need to live out.
Last week, I gave you an example of Jesus acting like us instead of love. You can check it out HERE. Oh, how life would be so different now.
I want to walk this earth just as Jesus did. Loving everyone. Healing the sick. Praying for the blind. Raising the dead. He is living inside of me, so there is no reason not to do those things. It’s all about faith. Just because I might not see things happen when I pray, that doesn’t change the truth of His words. We’re not here to live by feelings. We’re here to live by faith. The Bible says living by feelings is demonic, so why would we want any part of that?
I want to love my wife with God’s love. Not saying “I love you” in order to hear it back. Not praying that God will change things in her for my benefit. If we ever pray that God will change someone just because we have an issue with them or because it would make our lives better, it becomes all about self, and that’s a dangerous place to be in. (I’m not saying I have an issue with my wife. I just want to keep growing in God’s perfect love.)
I want to model Christianity for my kids. If we go to church on Sunday morning, but get angry, frustrated, and pottered by life every other day of the week, then we’re just teaching our kids that being a Christian means going to church. I want them to see the love of God in how I discipline them, father them, and love them. I don’t want to punish out of frustration, because then it’s all about me. If I punish them, it needs to be done in a way that continues to show them their true identity in Christ. I want them to fully understand their created value from God.
I want to stop passing silently by people on the streets and in stores who may never have heard about God and how much He loves them. Who knows that the next person I walk by, without saying a word to, might be contemplating suicide? They may need the hope that I carry inside of me. They may just need someone to love them without expecting anything in return.
I’m done with living for myself and following the way of man’s wisdom. The way that seems right to a man leads to destruction. God’s wisdom leads to life.
What is the legacy I want to leave behind?
It’s simple. Jesus.
Christianity was originally called the “The Way” which is an interesting descriptive phrase because the notion many gather today from this statement is that those believers signposted “the way” to Christ. That is far from true it was the means for identifying them they walked or lived the “The Way”.
They adopted a pattern of life that reflected their selflessness, their desire to reflect the Christ and were clearly different from those around them.
Your sentiment expresses the same desire to live in a Christlike way and demonstrate the benefits to all of a relationship with our Heavenly Father.
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Such a positive message. Thank you for sharing.
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Hi! Thank you for following my blog! I just started reading yours, really nice blog! š
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Reblogged this on Dr. Ravinder Ozha and commented:
It’s my pleasure to be here and going through on this blog. Really it is going to be happen in each and everyone’s life. We know what we are but do we really think that we are here for us ? for our family? for our parents?????
As Chris has told us we are here for God, no matter we are living or we’re dying, we are here for God. Remember it.
Chris here, I just want to share with you because I am so inspired by your story that I want to cover your blog in one of my ongoing book which is based on great poet John Milton.
Somehow, your blog has recalled me the situation of John Milton when he became blind in his 50s and complained God but in same poetry named “On his blindness”, he has given a second thought which is related to God where he said that his (God’s) state is kingly.
He never take back, He just believe in giving for our righteousness.
Recently, I’ve completed my book ” Jesus Is Your Advocate ” here http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T76GWXM.
Soon I will publish some good work of John Milton.
!!Amen!!
Dr. Ravinder Ozha, PhD
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur
Twitter @RavinderOzha
Gmail ravinderozha@ gmail.com
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A sentence that often rattles through my brain is: “It’s not about us…it’s all about HIM!” Another is, “He is not my servant…I am HIS servant.” These help me remember that He is sovereign, in control, and that He has every right to ask me to say and do things that are ‘outside of my comfort zone.’ Makes life much more interesting! š
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That part about modeling Christianity for the kids is especially meaningful to me. We teach our kids by what we do, not what we say and they learn what being a Christian really means by our attitude towards it. So parents really have to ask themselves what part they have in children growing up and not having a personal relationship with God.
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Reblogged this on Brian By Experience.
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I noticed last week that when I was counseling my daughter about trusting God and putting my worries in his hands that all day I’d been worrying about my writing and getting things done. š
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I have been thinking about this myself lately. Thank you for sharing š
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Sounds like a worthy goal and that you have #GotCharacter š Keep up the good work and the writing.
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