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Destined to Live

December 30, 2016 by Chris Wilcoxson Leave a Comment

Live or Die

Matthew 1:21  …”She will give birth to a son and you are to name him ‘Savior,’ for he is destined to give his life to save his people from their sins.” TPT

long-lay-the-world-in-sin-and-error-pining-till-he-appeared-and-the-soul-felt-its-worth-the-thrill-of-hope-the-weary-world-rejoices-for-yonder-breaks-a-new-and-glorious-mornPerhaps you have heard it said that ‘life is a terminal experience.’  In other words, no one gets out of this alive.  The question really isn’t will we physically die, but will we really live.

Death, explained by the Word of God, means separation.  Death is to be separated from God, thus separated from life.  The reality is that we all are eternal beings.  Physical death isn’t the end.  The real question is having been born will we really live.  While death means separation, life is union with Life Himself.  Life is the end of separation, never to be separated again.

Jesus, our Savior, was destined to give His life.  He would give His life to save his people from their sins.  The gift of Love was that God’s Son was born to die.  That means He had to first be alive.  Jesus was sinless and alive, not being separated from Father God.

Luke 2:10-11 “For I have come to bring you good news, the most joyous news the world has ever heard!  For today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you! He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah.”  TPT

We, on the other hand, were born in sin and spiritually dead.  A spiritually dead (separated) person has reason to fear physical death.  To physically die having never spiritually lived is eternal separation.  However, angels proclaimed the most joyous news the world has ever heard.  They trumpeted life in the midst of death.

Exchange

Born sinless and alive, Jesus was destined to die. Born in sin and death, we were destined to live. He was destined to die.  We were destined to live.

Destiny may seem a little overly dramatic for you.  Yet, the word speaks of purpose, to be firmly established, and destination.  God, your Heavenly Father, has firmly established your life in a plan that He devised before the foundations of the world.  He knew you would need saving.  He knew we would get lost.  You were destined to know God, to have eternal life, to be found in Him.

flat1000x1000075fThough Jesus died for our sins on the cross, if that had been the end, it would not be good news.  His full destiny or destination would not have been achieved. Having died, our Savior defeated death and rose again.  He proclaimed, “That because I live, you shall live also!”  He has fulfilled His destiny so we could walk in it.  You were born to live and Jesus has made it possible.  Don’t walk in death, when your destination is life.

Choose life.  Choose to step into a destiny that has been planned for you.  Call on the name of the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and you will be saved!  It’s your destiny.

 

Filed Under: Life Source Ministries Tagged With: death, destined, destined to live, Jesus, life, live, Savior, sin

Kingdom First, There Is No Second

April 1, 2016 by Chris Wilcoxson Leave a Comment

A segmented life can be a very overwhelming life.  Building many different kingdoms through life can feel like I could be buried rather than crowned.  When the many hats we wear mess with our identity or cause us to miss our values, something needs to change.  Trying to be good at or find meaning in the many things that require my attention today, can be exhausting.  Life today presents the challenge to become very good at juggling.  Many times it can feel like we are juggling knives.  Miss one, handle it incorrectly, or lose focus and you may get hurt or hurt someone else.  Does life have to be this challenging?  Should my life be defined by all the things I do?  Is my worth based on the sum of my parts?  Which segment of my life (or which kingdom) do I want to be remembered for?  Could I possibly be known for all of them?  Work, marriage, parenting, friends, etc.

My grandfather was a “jack of all trades.”  Everything he had to offer was freely given to the community.  At the end of his earthly life, he was not known for all that he did, but the nature that poured through all that he did.  It was that nature that caused him to be known.  Had he been of a different nature, others may never known him.  As it was, he was known for being a generous and caring man who selflessly gave himself to those in need.  One thing marked him, but that one thing flowed through all he did.

seek-first-kingdom-calligraphy

Matthew 6:33 shares a truth with us from the lips of Jesus.  He shared it right after talking to His disciples about things unbelievers worry about.  He instructs us not to worry about things like what we will eat or what we will wear.  He says rather, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Here is my question: If I seek first the kingdom and all these other things we spend our life seeking are added, what is left?  It would appear to me that if one thing leads to all things, I’m finished seeking.

Follow this.  The kingdom is where the King is.  Righteousness is us in His presence.  We seek God’s presence and pursue intimacy with Him first.  Our soul finds what it’s looking for and I can rest.  No more seeking life in the other things I do.  No more seeking security, things, or identity.  I find it in the Kingdom and the King.  From there I don’t have to leave.  The Kingdom is in me and I follow what/who I find.  My life ceases to be an endless seeking for meaning, identity, or success.  It becomes, rather, a fulfilling of what I found in my Father, King, Creator.

We all have things we have to accomplish during a day and no one is suggesting a monastery life.  However, we need to quit segmenting our life into spiritual time, work time, me time, family time, etc. We need to follow the kingdom into all these things.  Take the classic Mary and Martha story found in John.  Martha was exhausted in trying to serve.  She was resentful of Mary for leaving her to “do it all.”  When she expresses her frustrations to Jesus, she is not met with justification but correction.  She is told that Mary, who was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening, had chosen the best thing.  Furthermore, what Mary had chosen would not be taken from her.  It may be simplistic, but Mary had chosen connection.  It’s not that serving was wrong.  However, when Jesus is sitting and speaking, we should be sitting and listening.  When Jesus gets up and begins serving, we should get up and be serving.  Our life should be about connection at all times. It becomes about what we do with Him, rather than for Him.  We don’t want to miss encounters with Him.  We should understand this on a relational point of view.  Sitting, hearing and seeing are so important because that is where I come to know Him and His nature.  It’s where the kingdom, God’s nature, is formed in me.  It’s not God barking orders.  It’s me being led by His nature in me.  It’s taking time to listen, it’s taking time to stop for the one in need on the way to where I was going.  It’s being fruitful in the things I do because of connection, rather than unfruitful through disconnection.  I’m not trying to be seen in order to find an identity through all I do, but fulfilling an identity in all I do.  Are we, like Martha, asking Jesus to bless what we are doing? Or, are we, through connection, doing what Jesus is blessing?

The picture of the perfect Son, Jesus, gives us the standard.  Jesus said that He did nothing except what He saw the Father doing.  He said nothing except what He heard the Father saying.  Like Father, like Son.  We want to cultivate that kind of life.  We may struggle with what this looks like.  However, we must first believe that it is possible or we will not pursue it.  The reality is that Jesus came to restore our connection to our loving, speaking, relational Father.  We don’t lose ourselves when we come to Jesus, we find ourselves.  We take on His nature and His image.  Then, as He is, so are we.

Filed Under: Life Source Ministries Tagged With: connection, Kingdom, known, life, nature, presence, relationship

Living Hope – Happy Easter

March 27, 2015 by Chris Wilcoxson Leave a Comment

SunRiseIN business and life there are short term and long term goals.  Generally, short term goals are only effective in the light of the long term goal that they work to serve.  It’s the long term goal that gives the momentum and energy to the short term goal.  The long term goal reminds us of why we are doing what we do today and why the short term goals matter.  Without the long term goal, the short term ones can lose there relevance.  We forget why we are doing certain things and why it matters.  Without the short term goals, the long term ones can seem too abstract and distant to be real.  We need glimpses of the long term goal along the way.  We need achievements that show we are not chasing unrealistic fairy tales.  We need actions, habits, or ways of thinking that keep us on course and remind us of what’s most important and where we are heading.  For the record, a goal can be a place we end up, an achievement, or even the person/organization we become.  It could also be the combination of all three.

1 Peter 1:2-5

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  

To many, the Christian lifestyle, ideals, and thoughts have become archaic and irrelevant. Christianity, as a simple matter of lifestyle, will be short lived because it lacks the long term goal that makes it powerful.  As Paul said, “if in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable.”  Many approach Christianity as only a way to better this life here on earth.  That is short term living without the long term reality Peter called a “living hope.”  Heaven and eternal life don’t seem real to many Christians.  It’s too unknown.  Therefore, decisions are made based on short sighted thinking.  Living a passionate and purposeful life require both the long and short term goals.

Peter declares that we have been rescued from aimless living.  It’s not about surviving today.  Literally, the old dead end life that we were confined to has passed away.  We are no longer held to the sad truth that this life is the best we could have.  (Even the worst existence here won’t compare to the horrors of hell.)  We are liberated to the powerful truth that the best is yet to come!  (Even if we had the best of existences here on earth, it won’t compare to heaven.)  Peter declares that we were born again to a living hope.  Hope is for something that hasn’t happened yet.  A living hope is a hope that hasn’t happened in its fullness yet, but affords us glimpses, experiences, and tastes of what’s to come.  That’s really good news.  This hope comes through the resurrection of the dead.  We too will rise again like Jesus, the firstborn from the dead, and enter into our inheritance that is imperishable and will not fade away.  God has reserved it for us and even now is protecting us by His power through our faith that we exert here on earth for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  Do you see the long and short term goals?  The promise of God and the work of faith.

With our eyes on Jesus and our heavenly reward (long term), we live a life of faith (short term) here on earth.  That life of faith includes following Jesus, renewing our minds to His Word, and living a life of love.  As we do, we catch glimpses, we have experiences, and we taste of greater things to come.  We experience the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”  This Easter don’t lose sight of the long term goal.  Continue to make short term faith goals in your walk with Christ.  Use your faith to love more, give more, and share Jesus with others more.  The just shall live by faith, which if we don’t shrink back will have great reward.

 

Filed Under: Life Source Ministries Tagged With: eternal, hope, Jesus, life, perspective, resurrection

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