Have I
gotten over that? Have I “moved
on” from the sweetness that I deserve death and I am given life? Have I "matured" enough to move past the fact that in response to this abundant justice
and grace that I have received, that I should do everything I can to spread
it?
Praise Jesus
that in His obedience to the Father assures us once and for all that the
justice of God does not reign over me because it is satisfied in Jesus’ atoning
death. And He proved this by the
Resurrection. We do not live for
now—we live in light of eternity.
The pastor
at my church, J.D. Greear, preached on 1 Peter 4:1-11 tonight, and in light of the commands in the passage, encouraged us to
live as though we were looking back on our lives in 100 years. What would you wish you had done to
leverage your life, your relationships, your family, and your work, all for the
fame of the work of Jesus on and after the Cross? Would you wish you would have spent your extra money on something eternal? Would you wish you would have explained the Gospel to that one person that you were too scared to talk to about Jesus? Would you wish you would have done everything you could to make sure that your family knew the risen King? Would you wish you would have loved Christ enough to love people enough to profess the Truth?
For what do we
live? For what do I live? Do people wonder how though I suffer I
bless the name of Christ? Do
people wonder why I won’t shut up about Jesus? Are people attracted to the hope and peace that I have—that
surpasses ALL understanding? Do
people see how humble my heart is at the sight of my unworthiness before the
Lord, though He loves me? Do
people know that my faith in myself is stripped? Are people repulsed at the fact that I do not indulge in
worldly, fleshly things? Do I
constantly confess my sin to others—believers and unbelievers? Do I constantly profess that JESUS is my
hope and full abundant joy, and NEVER my circumstance? Do I suffer for the name of Christ my
Lord?
More
importantly, do people see that I aim to do these things, that they would see
my life and turn to and glorify the King of Kings, the great and glorious God,
the One who lived the life I could not live and died the death that I
deserved—Jesus?
“How then will they
call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have not
heard? And how are they to hear
without someone preaching? And how
are they to preach unless they are sent?”
- Romans 10:14-15
May our
churches, may our families, may our friendships, may our courtships, may our
marriages, may our hearts be obsessed
with the fact that we deserve death and are given eternal life because of the
Cross.
Our lives
show what we believe to be true. Our
decisions about in what to invest our time, our money, and our relationships
reveal what we believe to be important.
Do I believe that I am important?
Do I believe that my success, that my reputation, that my comfort, that
my happiness is important? Or do I
believe that the only thing that matters in this life is that I reach as many
people as possible, in God’s time and by His power, to profess the Truth and
imminent love of the risen Lord?
May we be
obsessed with Jesus. May we never
get over the reality of the Gospel.
