Living the Life!

I am amazed at all the blessings the Lord has given me:

• My loving wife, three sons, their spouses, 5 grandkids, and several adored dogs top the list.
• A multitude of friends who have laughed and cried with me, prayed for me and tolerated me.
• Reasonably good heath with several successful surgeries along the way.
• The freedom to walk without pain, first starting at the age of five.
• The Word of God to live by and a Church to help me walk the walk.
• Wrestling shoes and a trumpet.
• God's calling for me to be a pastor and evangelist.
• Cars that work, homes that are warm, and comfortable communities.
• Toys of boys...a bike, a TV and remote, a computer, a cell phone...
• Spiritual blessings of his presence, his power, and all the nudges the Lord gives each day.
• The fruit of a committed life, including the joy of giving.
• Mountain peaks and ocean beaches

I suspect my list is different from your list, but some items are likely similar. God's blessings continue to flow and are too numerous to do him justice.

Have you noticed something disturbing about my list?

My list is all about what makes my life comfortable and keeps me in the center of my universe. Paul shakes me out of my contented cocoon:  

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

Paul taps me on my shoulder and whispers in my ear, "because of him you should no longer live for yourself."  I am indebted to him for the greatest blessing of my life, my salvation. I am also indebted to him for the greatest opportunity for blessings in my life, living for him!

Jesus turns our lives inside out. We are no longer self-consumed. We are no longer measuring blessings by what we receive. All that is turned inside out. I am thrilled to encourage and build others up, letting them know how special they are in the eyes of the Lord. I am ecstatic to hear people pray, "Jesus, I want you in my heart as my Savior!" I am satisfied when I have lifted someone's burden or shared someone's sorrow. I am grateful for the privilege to help others. I am at my best and receiving the greatest blessings when I am living for him.

I am sure you have discovered these truths in your life as you have exercised your faith. Why do we find it so easy to default to consumer status rather than maintain producer status?

I believe the Holy Spirit continues to work in us to mature us. Maturity of faith is seen in lives which are surrendered to him, lived for him, and served with him. This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote about his own effort to live for the Lord: 

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. (Philippians 3:12-15)

Keep striving to live for him. The greatest blessings of your life are yet to come.