Living To Die and Dying to Live

I challenge you to find Christians who are looking forward to death. You won’t find many because unfortunately most are concerned with holding on to this life or “living their best life now.” Which begs the question, why do we live? The answer is Christians live for Christ and to be on mission for God. In fact, the only reason God is keeping Christians on this earth is for the purpose of the Great Commission, the commission of making disciples and teaching them to obey everything God has commanded. However, what we see is a very small percentage of believers being on mission for God, but instead living for themselves while pursuing worldly wealth and fame.

When Jesus heard of the death of Lazarus, he said “this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified  through it” (John 11:4). Jesus’ purpose was that through the resuscitation of Lazarus, God would be glorified and many would come to believe that He was the Christ. Upon His arrival He engaged Martha in conversation about who He was and it was here He would once again identify His divine nature as God in the flesh. Jesus told Martha “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die“ (John 11:25, 26). Jesus was making a promise, a promise that those who live for Him and He inside of them, would live forever with Him. Those who grasp this promise are those who truly believe upon Him. Those who grasp this amazing grace are compelled to live differently while on earth. Those who embrace their gift of eternal life seek to accomplish and fulfill the mission of God and bring glory to Christ. Does this describe your life? Have you embraced eternal life in a way that you do not fear losing your earthly life? Truth be told, you can’t live for Christ, until you die to self. To die without living for Him is to suffer eternally apart from Him.

Do not be deceived, a believer’s life belongs to Christ. He has died for it, He has paid for it, He indwells it, He commands it, He has shed blood for it, He has redeemed it, and He has suffered it. So if your life isn’t bringing glory to Christ and you are living “for your best life now,” instead of for His mission now, then changes are in order. In a spiritual sense, you  can’t live until you die and you can’t die to self until His Spirit regenerates your soul.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life and He is the way, the truth and the life. This is the confidence that compels us to greatness on this planet, not channeling our inner self as many religions teach, but genuine belief based upon Christ and His unchanging promises. The promise that when die, not how or why, but when. We will live life the way it was always intended, reigning with Christ forever (2 Timothy 2:12).