PHILIPPIANS 1:21 – “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
THEME OF THE DAY: LIVING LIFE RIGHT. There are two things I believe will prove to be the saddest experiences in life. Should these characterize our lives now and at the end, we will feel the deep pains of regret and remorse with the nagging question, “Why did I?”
The first would be to have lived the only life God gave us with no clear divine purpose, drive, and objective. Basically, we just executed mindless and worldly routines. Whether it was in a job viewed as mundane, responsibilities and roles half-heartedly performed, relationships that merely existed, or waiting for weekends and vacations far too short and disappointing, we simply wasted life leaving us empty, disillusioned, and discontent.
The second saddest experiences is that we did live our only life God gave us with clear purpose, drive, and objective. Yet, we did so without life being directed by the divine, spiritual and eternal. We worked hard. We accomplished much. We arrived so to speak. We were viewed as highly successful by people. And all those things might be true but all for the wrong end. Our motivation and drive were worldly. All we did was for selfish gain, worldly accomplishments, worldly fame, approval of people, achieving temporal comfort, and the desires and priorities of the Lord Jesus never fit into our motives, plans, and actions. Sad indeed, and all this may easily happen in the lives of Christians!
But we need not despair if we find ourselves in one of those two categories of people who are wasting their lives on the wrong priorities. Why? Because Lamentations 3:22-23 is still in God’s Book – “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentation 3:22-23). Do we know what it means that His mercies are new every morning? One thing is that we get a new start each day with the Lord. If we are not living life with the right priorities, we may start now. Today. New day mercies for a new day start are ours! And what would that new day start look like? Today’s scripture.
The Apostle Paul in seven words, the first seven words of today’s scripture, sets us on the proper course so we won’t waste our only life. Following his words and life, we are able to redirect our lives to what makes life worthwhile, fulfilling, adventurous, purposeful, meaningful, satisfying, and brings great pleasure to the Lord. Those seven words are – “For to me, to live is Christ”. And a good way to begin each day with these words would be praying something like the following:
“Lord, thank You so much for this new day, this day of new day mercies that enables me to think and live with Your purposes, priorities, and desires being the compasses by which I navigate my day. Thank You for Your grace and giving me the joy of living for what matters in life – Your Son – and not wasting my life.”
PRAYER: Father, may I not allow the distractions of the world to keep me from living with divine purpose.
REFLECTION: It is a life wasted that is lived for selfish gain, worldly pleasures, and without eternal priorities.