“I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls... Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial alter of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.”~2 Cor 12:15a, Philippians 2:17
Do I spend my life for the faith of others or am I mostly concerned with my own purity? Do I spend my time in faithful and fervent prayer for others, or do I merely seek to improve and enjoy my own life? Am I willing to give everything I have for the sake of another knowing Christ, or for the one who already believes; to exhort them further in their faith? Am I a spiritual hog, hoarding all spiritual blessings for myself, and living off the faith of others, or am I working out my own salvation with fear and trembling, pouring myself out for Christ my God and those He came to save?
Am I lost in myself or hid in Christ?
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”~Philippians 2:12-13
Just like being a physical hog is unhealthy, so is being a spiritual hog. When all we do is feed our bodies, but never work out and use what we've taking in, then we become lethargic, weak, self-absorbed and often, depressed. Always looking for the next thing that will make us feel good momentarily, but nothing that will actually make us good eternally
A life can only be balanced and healthy when it is hidden in Christ. When we abide in Christ, we cannot abide in ourselves, our circumstances or that of others. Rather we are set upon the Rock and cannot be shaken (Acts 2:25, 2 Cor 4:16-18). You can't live your old life with your old desires set upon your dead flesh filled with sin and also live your new life in Christ. You will love the one and hate the other.
If we merely go to church, listen to sermons live or online, read Christian books, visit with and be edified by other saints in Christ and do nothing but soak up all spiritual blessings for ourselves so that our lives may be comfortable, then we have become spiritual hogs who are weak and will most certainly crumble when something painful or fearful comes our way.
Live a life balanced in Christ. It's never too late! Start today!
Spend time daily with Him. Rise early to seek His counsel through His word (Psalm 1:1-3, 92:1-2) and to worship, praise and adore Him! Then meditate on His word all day from what He taught you in the morning. Pray that God open the eyes of your heart so that you might see every opportunity He's given you to live out what He has taught and prepared you for (Eph 2:10). And in the evening, before you sleep, search His word again, that you may end your day giving thanks and glory to God for all that He has graciously worked in and through you. For God's words are not dead letters on a page with no life, but they are living and active (Hebrews 4:12-13). God is life! Everything from Him and of Him has life!
"So Jesus again said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.'"~John 10:7-11
Jesus died to give you what you could never gain for yourself or what no one else could ever provide you -- eternal life, abundant joy, freedom from the sin that enslaves and weighs us down. Jesus said His sheep hear His voice and obey it (John 10:27). If you are truly His sheep, prove it by living a life of love; which to God is obedience (1 John 5:3).
If you don't know Jesus and are not known by Him (Matt 7:22-23), then repent and fully trust in Him today. If you do know Christ; live as if you do. Seek Him daily and follow hard after Him, so that the word of God may not be maligned.
"so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."~Colossians 1:10
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