Living for God (even as) We Live Life
God comes to us disguised as our life. Would we agree? How can this be?
Life.
Is “life” ours to live as we please?
Who does our “life” really belong to?
We are afforded the blessing to walk through a typical “day of life,” one that may include:
- Wake Up, Knowing it is GOD who shook us awake
- Praise GOD for HIS Goodness
- Bathe & Dress & Eat as we praise GOD for the ability to do so
- Find & Enjoy Relationship with those GOD brings to our Home
- Pray—Listen & Talk with GOD as HE prepares our heart for our day
- Study GOD’S Word to prepare ourselves, so we are ready to testify
- Thank GOD for HIS Provision & Guidance
- Clean up the home GOD has provided
- Trim the area surrounding the outside of the home GOD has provided
- Till, Plant, Hoe, & Gather produce GOD has given us to eat & sustain our bodies
- Exercise & Keep Strong the body GOD has blessed us with since our birth
- Work at the task GOD has provided our hands to do so we may receive compensation for our daily needs
- Lift our Hands in thanksgiving as we thank GOD for meeting our needs
- Pause for lunch, bowing to pray, thanking GOD for all that HE Is
- Encourage others who GOD leads into our daily path
- Talk with, Laugh with, Mourn with, Listen to, & also to Hug those GOD has provided, who we term “our friends”
- Prepare Dinner & Enjoy Conversation with those who GOD has blessed us to call “family”
- Rest in the evening, reflective of the day’s events, even as we make plans and are hopeful for another day—for tomorrow that we hope GOD gives us to live
- Sleep & Receive Restoration for our weary human bodies, cognizant that GOD clearly knows we are mere dust.
Yes, it is possible and even necessary to—Live for GOD—even as we walk through each day & live this life we have been given to live.
Persecutor of the early Christians, the man called Saul was an educated man, one who was on-mission to “live-out” what he had been instructed to do. He actually carried official government documents giving him authority to carry out his task.
Then one day JESUS stopped Saul.
On that single, ordinary day of life, the LORD gave Saul a new name & a new LIFE.
Let us read together God’s Word & see how God moves.
“Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.”
(Acts of the Apostles 9: 3-6 NASB 2020)
- Jesus knows us, even before we are a child of God.
- Jesus calls us by name, even when we are still lost.
- God gave us an innate longing to know God, even from the moment of our conception.
- God longs for us to come & to receive His salvation HE offers.
- God loves us so much—HE sent Jesus Christ, HIS only Son to earth, to die for each one of us.
- God raised Jesus to new life, so we too may receive new life.
Living for God!
Alive in Christ Jesus, even as we live out life!
Suddenly alive and living as the chosen instrument of GOD’S!
While Saul was seeing the LORD for the first time on the road to Damascus, God was giving a man named Ananias a vision and purpose for his day.
“And the Lord said to him, [to his disciple Ananias] “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,
and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”
(Acts of the Apostles 9: 11-12 NASB 2020)
Cody Carnes sings the melody “Be Glad,” a song that reminds us of the purpose of our lives. Let us listen and sing and dance as we enjoy this day our LORD has provided.
“So what are we waiting for. . .
This is the day the LORD has made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
This is the day the LORD has made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
He brought us from mourning to dancing
From glory to glory
This is the day the LORD has made
So, what are we waiting for?
Come on and praise the LORD!
So what are we waiting for?
Come on and praise the LORD!
Oh praise the LORD!”
“Be Glad,”
- God knows where we will go—today & each day.
- God knows what we will face—today—even before we need the strength to go into the day.
- God knows what we will face—today —even before we need the stamina to face a single stage of life.
GOD KNOWS!
Even when we wonder why God is sending us to walk a particular path within our day—
Even when we question why God is giving us something we just don’t think we can endure—
Even when we find our days easy to live—
Even when we receive a leading of God’s Holy Spirit that we just don’t really fully understand—
EVEN THEN—LIVING FOR GOD—THAT IS WHAT GOD EXPECTS FROM US, HIS CHILDREN, AS WE LIVE OUR LIVES!
“But the Lord said to him [to Ananias] “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.”
(Acts of the Apostles 9: 15-16 NASB 2020)
God spoke to the man named Saul who was reborn and became the apostle Paul.
God spoke to the man named Ananias who was obedient to God’s will.
God spoke to His child Paul & gave him a new purpose & a new way to live life.
God spoke to His child Paul who took up his cross & followed God.
God spoke to His child & God sent him to preach the gospel to the lost.
God spoke to the man once named Saul, a changed man, & then Paul, the child of God, took the message to the Gentiles.
Hallelujah for the obedience of Ananias and Paul, for I am a child of God today because they obediently followed God.
Praise God for the way HE sends us—His disciples—to Live Life.
- So, why would we ever choose to walk alone?
- So, why would we ever choose to race through our days without God?
- So, why would we ever choose to not continually praise our SAVIOR, our LORD & our KING of KINGS as we live out our lives?
We should not, no not ever!
Living for God (even as we live life) truly is the ONLY WAY to LIVE LIFE!
Ananias learned this while living an ordinary life in the city Damascus.
Saul learned this that day on the road to Damascus.
God revealed to Ananias the task he was to do.
God changed Saul’s life in a single moment & God gave him a new name.
One second of an ordinary day.
One moment of an ordinary day.
While we are living life—that’s where God meets us.
The Bible reveals how GOD needs but one second, one moment, to change someone’s eternity!
One Second!
From that single moment of time, from spiritual death to spiritual life—we become GOD’S INSTRUMENT—just like Paul.
God provides us so many seconds, so many moments to Live Life.
We need to give all our seconds, all of our moments of our lives—to God.
We don’t have to be a gifted orator to share the love of God with another.
- What matters is that we are working every day to please God!
- What matters is that we are a student of God’s Word every single day as we Live Life!
- What matters is that we are walking with Jesus & talking with God as we Live Life!
- What matters is that we are being led by God’s Holy Spirit as we Live Life!