For Me to Live
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For Me to Live
By: Pastor David Grove
In 2004 Joel Osteen released his book entitled, “Your Best Life Now”: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential. The book explored how someone can reach their full potential by following his seven steps that focused on positive thinking, faith, and personal development. Even though this book has helped many people the truth also is, it didn’t. When someone follows seven steps of how “you can” make a change in your life and “you can” find favor with God and then you find that your bank account hasn’t grown, you don’t have a mansion or a Mercedes setting in your driveway, you may begin to feel as if you’re doing something wrong or worse yet, you haven’t found favor with God. To be completely honest, I find many of these types of books pure fluff. They focus on the person rather than the one true provider. The Bible never truly teaches that God desires us to be “happy” as these types of books teach, but the Bible does teach us that God desires for us to live a life of joy that is rooted in Him and in Him alone. Actually, the Bible only speaks about, “happy and happiness” 10-30 times depending on your translation but “joy, rejoicing and joyful” is spoken of approximately 430 times. Personally, I’ll take God’s lesson about having joy in my life rather than listening to people like Joel Osteen only wanting us to have happiness with “things” in our lives.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived speaks about what life is and isn’t about. He tells us in Ecclesiastes 1:14, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” He simply is saying; everything of this world even though for a short time brings a sense and feeling of accomplishment and completeness isn’t real, isn’t lasting and it doesn’t mean anything. God had blessed Solomon with property, power, position and prestige but it wasn’t enough, he wanted more. That’s usually what happens, as you gain more you want more. People today now more than ever think they can take care of themselves, mange their lives without any help especially any help from God. The reality is, we all need help, guidance and direction. When David the shepherd boy long before he became king was up against the battle of his life and the life of his people stood before the 9-foot giant Goliath from Gath. Goliath was an undefeated warrior and the pillar of the Philistine forces. It seemed like the world was against the Israelites, they had no way out, not a soldier wanted to go up against this giant until one boy came forward with a pouch and sling shot in hand, his name was David. He knew that he couldn’t face this giant alone, he knew he needed help and he made it clear to Goliath where his help came from,
“You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty,” (1 Sam. 17:45). How did that turn out? Not good for Goliath. A hit in the head and he was dead. The Philistine army put their trust in a man and the things of this world, and they found out quickly as Solomon said, “it’s all meaningless.”
Each of us has some kind of giant in our life that we are up against, it may not be a human giant but it most likely is a giant struggle of some kind. The world say’s: find happiness and everything will be ok, your life will be complete. Let me ask you a serious question, if these self-help books are so effective then why do people like Joel Osteen and others have to keep writing other books that teach the same thing? I personally prefer to go to “The Book” that has the direction and answers that I’m searching for. It’s called the Bible. An acronym that I believe say’s it best is, “Bible”, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. How true that is.
The article is entitled, “For Me to Live” and I want to leave you with the answer of how you can truly live your best life now and for always. “For to me, to live is Christ”, (Phil.1:21). Simply, if you want to truly live and want your life to mean something, live for Christ.
I want to leave you with the words of one of my favorite worship songs and I believe it says it all,
“In Christ Alone”.
In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
May you keep your eyes fixed upon the Lord and have a heart’s desire to serve Him every day knowing that you can live a full life in Christ by always keeping, “JESUS FIRST In ALL THINGS”,
With JOY In JESUS,
Pastor David