It’s been a while. I know. I could say life gets in the way. I’ve been very busy. But these are just excuses.
Life.
Our lives should be an extension of the life of Christ.
When I heard this at church on Sunday, I started to make a mental, self-absorbed inventory of my life. What do I do? What do I don’t? And of yes, the ever coveted…What would Jesus do?
Can we truly live up to the life of Christ? By the end of our first year on earth, we probably had already fallen short. So how do we reconcile?
Simple. We cannot.
What does it mean to be an extension of Christ? How does one accomplish this?
Purpose.
Why are here? What is our purpose in life? Mark Twain said it best when wrote: “The two most important days of your life is the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
The ‘why’ allow us to become that extension.
We strive to live a life pleasing to God. As hard as it may be, we fight daily. We don’t live for ourselves.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
We live for a purpose. Whatever gift God has given you, it should be used within the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
We try to keep our minds, bodies and spirits as clean as possible to please the Lord and to encourage others. In this way, we attempt to be an extension of Jesus Christ, a part of His body.
Romans 12:1-5
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
So, the Sunday message followed me all day. It’s still haunting my mind actually. I thought about my life and how people pre-judge me because of my past choices. It hurts. I was a teenage mother and now divorced with three children. For the rest of my life, this will be my identity to most of the world. How unfair! What about my heart? What about my walk with Christ? What about the ‘good’ things I do?
Doesn’t matter.
Thank Jesus for his grace and mercy. This is one that the world will never be able to comprehend. All they will ever see is what I have done. But my Father sees me and only me, as an extension of himself. That is why we stay focused on the blessed hope with our mind of heavenly things. Focus, instead, on our purpose. Purpose drives us to keep going. As the minister at church said, it motivates us to fight! Every one of us needs a reason to get up in the morning. What is yours?
