FAITH AND THE DAILY LIFE?

                                                                       

                                     FAITH AND THE DAILY LIFE?

"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."  1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

 As disciples of Jesus Christ we face the constant challenge of making a difference for Jesus in the world we live in. But somehow in our eyes we seem to fall so short. We often feel distracted and burdened with the duties of day-to-day life; our jobs, our families, social issues, personal struggles... as if they are contrary to God's plan and Kingdom. Life happens, and that is as it should be; however, Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a woman kneading bread. She takes leaven and folds it into a batch of flour until the whole batch is leavened Matthew 13:33. You see, God’s plan is not to build an exciting church life, but that His people become the salt and light of the world. He folds us into the world not to be consumed by its godlessness, but to bring the knowledge of His salvation and grace to every part of it. It is Christ in us as we walk with Him in our daily lives that awakens people to His Kingdom, and that glorifies Him. Not by merely preaching, but by living out His life in our DAY-TO- DAY lives as described in the Scriptures of the Bible and empowered by His Holy Spirit! The power of the Kingdom of God is most readily demonstrated in the day-to-day life of the believer.  Hopefully, we are the signs and wonders of a daily kind and are a critical expression of Jesus Christ in the world we live in. What about when we fail, and our behavior is contrary to Jesus' character? We repent, confess, forsake, humble ourselves, and get up, take up our cross and continue to follow Him by faith. People understand that we are not perfect, and so does our Heavenly Father. All this to say is that how we handle all our issues in our day-to-day life is of critical importance in validating our testimony of faith in Christ.

  I had mentioned this before, that although the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the climax of His ministry and the ultimate purpose of His mission for mankind, the part of His life that we rarely think about or mention was His years from His early childhood until His public ministry at the age of thirty. In those years, like everyone else, He had to run the gauntlet of obedience, discipline, temptations, weaknesses, hardships, duties, responsibilities, and fears. "...He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin...Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared. Though He was a Son, yet learned He obedience through the things He suffered." Hebrews 4:15, 5:7-8 

  Had Jesus failed even once by committing only one sin in this obscure, "uneventful and ordinary" part of His life like we have all failed, would He have been able to save the world from sin??? Think about the utter significance of this part of His life since He was the Sinless Lamb of God, the PERFECT SACRIFICE! Sometimes as zealot Christians, we tend to despise the ho-hum of daily ordinary life esteeming it to be unspiritual and insignificant. But we can see through the life of Christ how incredibly important it is for the health of our walk and service for the Kingdom of God. No, no one is able to, nor expected to accomplish what only the Holy Son of God could do, nor is that what our Heavenly Father is expecting of us. What He does expect is that we abide in Christ day by day amid all our strengths and weaknesses, serving Him in everything we do and giving glory to Him. This Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God must be demonstrated as applicable, functional, and relevant, in the everyday lives of any and every individual.

 How we conduct ourselves in our everyday activities is also an indication of the type of conversion we had and our consecration to Jesus Christ amid all our weaknesses.

   We are not all preachers and missionaries, but we are all His children in the midst of a lost and corrupted world. Do we have a part, purpose, and place in His plan for the Kingdom of Christ? We most certainly do! We do not live two lives, we live one life, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

  Dear friends, it is not about preaching, nor is it about being a good person, only God is Good. It is about walking with Jesus in our Day-to-Day lives demonstrated by the acts of faith and love that He has ordained for us, birthed by our intimate walk and fellowship with God our Heavenly Father purchased by Jesus’ sacrifice on that cross. And through it, out of our bellies (innermost being) shall flow rivers of LIVING WATER (His Holy Spirit - imagine that), John 7:38-39  We cannot produce this kind of life and power in ourselves, it is “Christ in us, the Hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27

  Therefore it is alright that you are just a student, a parent, a factory worker, a police, a judge, a teacher, a doctor, a mechanic, a janitor...So through us as everyday people, Jesus Christ is brought into every part of any society, and we get to be His voice, His hands, and His feet. What an honor! No, we don’t live two lives, we live just one life, and that is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in everything and in all that we do. I don’t have a spiritual life and a natural life, I live just one life. It is a walk of faith, a walk with Jesus in a natural world. So live your life with wholehearted devotion to Jesus, and love people the way He loves us day by day. It is not so much about how we think we should perform, it is about abiding in Christ. So enjoy your walk with God, be wholehearted, and let your faith and love in Christ abound. You are in a good way! His investment in us is not only for the life to come, but for our life here and now. Jesus loves you so much!!