Philippians 3:17-21 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Their mind is on earthly things. Is God an inconsequential God in our lives? Is He placed aside until we feel we need him? Is He like the thermostat in our homes, we run the furnace only when we feel cold? Or, is He always the center of our lives, forbidding any activity, interest, or plan to interfere with his prominent place? Is our citizenship in heaven a part of our daily consciousness or has that reality been lost in the clutter of our existence? Since He already knows the answer and we cannot hide anything from him, we need to ask ourselves: Is God consequential in our lives? Does He have the place of utmost importance to us, above all else? Are we like the Psalmist in the Old Testament who cries out to God that He is all he wants from life: Then I pray to you, O LORD. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life." (Psalm 142:5; NLT) Is God all in our lives or do we place prayer, Bible reading, meditation in the parts of our lives where nothing much is happening? When we lack passionate faith, we relegate God to the corners of our lives, not center stage. If we go on a spiritual fast to try to make up for our lack of commitment, do we fast nonessential things and times? Do we expect God to be pleased, when we fast a breakfast that we rarely eat anyhow, or stop using our electronics from five to eight in the morning? When we do such things, we think God doesn't know our hearts, that He doesn't know what activities and pursuits are really important to us. Serving God has always demanded a cost. He is worthy of the most important position in our hearts and minds. He will not be pleased when we give him the time that is least valuable to us, when it costs us little or nothing. When our minds are on earthly things, we allow our lives to be incessantly swirling with our own interests, activities, and necessities, and we lose out with God. We lose the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We lose the peace of God. We lose the voice of God. Those blessings remain available to all God's children, but we will not find them in the midst of the world's cacophony.
Paul ask the Corinthians to follow him as he follows God. He knew his life meant serving God at all times: to be constant in prayer, to sing songs of praise from his heart, to meditate on the good things of the Lord, to display God to the world with his tongue and with his deeds. God was not inconsequential to him. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So our aim is to please him always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 5:6-10) His life was centered on Christ. We are to be centered on Christ. The glorious reality that his life is in us and we in him is the essential story of the lives of all believers. Because of our faith in him, our lives are to be lived out for him. Paul says, For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better. Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. (Philippians 1:21-22) The Psalmist in Psalm 62:2-6 expresses well his love and need for God in his life: Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself; how I praise you! I will honor you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest of foods. I will praise you with songs of joy. I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Are we that much in love with our Savior or are we basically ignoring him as being essential to our daily living? When does He take the center of our lives? Is it only when we are in trouble, when we need an answer. Is it when we are sick, needing a healing; lonely, needing a companion; desperate, needing, rescue. Or, can we say we are so much in love and infatuated with our Lord, we long for his presence, feast on his Word, and follow his paths: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. (Psalm 119:103-104)
Why should we love the Lord so passionately that He holds center stage in every part of us? Why should we be in constant prayer? Why should a song of praise be on our lips at all times? Why should we be thinking of how to benefit and serve others rather than always ourselves? Why should we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Why should we love our neighbor as ourselves? We know all this is necessary because we know God's Word: If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:15-16) He gave us Jesus to pay the price for our sins. God allowed his beloved to be sacrificed for us, to make us holy in his sight. We are now known as children of God, placed in the very presence of a holy God. We are holy only because of Christ's work. Because of his shed blood, we are adopted brothers and sisters in the family of God; we are precious to God as Jesus is precious to God. We are blessed beyond our imaginations. We have no concepts in our language to express the wondrous position we now have with the Creator God. We were considered unredeemable, but now, because of Christ's work, we are forever new creatures, born again, children of God. Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. (Romans 5:1-2; NLT) Yes, we have much reason to praise God continually, to have him in the center of our lives, and to serve others. God is not inconsequential, He is everything, even our very breath. If you have strayed to the pathways of this world, if you have let the things of this world dominate your attention, the beginning of a new year is a perfect time to renew your faith in our wonderful Savior and Lord, Christ our King!
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