The Real Purpose of Life

 What is it to learn the humility of Christ? Perhaps it is to share not only His Cross and His Mission, but His world view as well. His "other worldly" outlook.

Our life should be Christ. He who made the universe and spoke the earth into existence, laid no claim to continuing temporal possessions while he lived in the flesh. He owned no bed upon which to lay His head. We may have a house, but only as a necessity and not as a desire to possess. It is said that birds from the arctic caged in the zoo always look northward. So we look heavenward, to our true home.

This world is not our home we're just passing through. We are only sojourners. Wayfaring pilgrims on a trek to a better land. We have a city whose builder and maker is God. Paul in his letter to the Philippians church compared our residence on planet earth to colonists whose citizenship is in heaven. Just as early colonists always had a deep longing for the motherland, so we who are eternal children of the eternal God long for our eternal home. He also spoke of our life here as heavenly ambassadors and as living letters of the love of God. Not until we live our life in light of this other world reality, will we have a sense of the humility our Saviour spoke of and possessed.

It was Paul who said, "For me to live is Christ." Real humility always entails a oneness of priority and purpose. This is why the analogy of being yoke-fellows with Christ is so apt. Those who have had the experience, as I have, of trying to get a team of unequally yoked horses to work together, know how frustrating and futile the effort can be. Normally they are of different temperament and lack unity of purpose. In order for them to work in tandem one of them must sublimate his will to the other. So it is with children of God who would labour together in humility and submission with Christ.

"ONLY ONE LIFE, 'TWILL SOON BE PAST,

ONLY WHAT'S DONE FOR CHRIST, WILL LAST!"

What Is Freedom’s Price?

On this weekend as Americans honour those who paid the supreme price for their freedoms, it is appropriate to remember that freedom never comes cheaply. Perhaps we should remember some of the immortal words spoken by patriots on the subject. One said, “Give me liberty, or give me death” Another said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Someone else stated. “It is better to die a free man on your feet, than to live as a slave on your knees.” Mann said, “No man escapes when freedom fails, the best men rot in filthy jails, and those who cried, ‘Appease! Appease!’ are killed by those they tried to please.”

I read a time back that over 200,000 Christian clergymen were killed for their faith in the former Soviet Union between 1917 and 1988. In addition, tens of millions of simple Christians died during this era as well. Let us never forget our forefathers who paid the ultimate price that we might be free of such religious repression and persecution. Let us also remember there is a continuing price to be paid in each generation if these precious freedoms purchased at such a high price are to be maintained and passed on.

But there is another sort of freedom that is even more precious and costly. It is the freedom our Savior spoke of when He said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free - If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.”

The price of this freedom has already been paid. It was purchased by the Father and Son at the most terrible cost. The ultimate sacrifice made by the Father and Son to procure our spiritual freedom is beyond the comprehension of the mortal mind. Yet, this incomprehensible freedom is offered to mankind absolutely free. Paul said:  “For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The spiritual freedom God offers to those who will repent and believe upon His Son is more than momentary and historical. It is eternal. When we are born again of His Spirit and become new creatures in Christ Jesus, we are justified by faith.

We are saved from:

The penalty of sin

The power of sin

The presence of sin

We are given eternal freedom from sin. We are  immediately saved from the penalty of sin. Daily we are being freed from the power of sin in our lives. When we are ushered into His presence eternally, we will be freed forever from the very presence of sin!

What does such spiritual liberty mean in a practical sense? God enjoined His Old Testament people to, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land.” Paul said to God’s New Testament people, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free...” And, “For brethren, ye have been called to liberty; only use not that liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”

The Power Of The Gospel

That the pen is mightier than the sword is an inarguable and historically demonstrable proposition. Unlike military power, the power of the pen relates more to quality than quantity. Powerful ideas placed upon paper in short pithy phrases are the stuff of great historical events. Catchy cliches' contained in incisive insights, are the crucial instruments of information used by visionaries in the crucible of crisis to achieve historical, earth-shattering, revolutionary and radical changes.

It was not the ninety-five theses nailed to the Wittenburg Castle gate, but Luther's short and simple quotation from the Word or God, "The just shall live by faith," that gave the necessary slogan and impetus for the Reformation. It was not a lengthy philosophical dissertation of Paine nor the founding fathers of the American Republic that made the real difference. But a simple cry, "Give me liberty or give me death," by a man of the earth. The speech of this man, Patrick Henry, uttered in the Virginia House of Burgesses, became the spark lighting the fire of the American Revolution. These simple words were the battle cry that fanned its all-consuming flames until victory was won and independence was achieved.

The lengthy and laborious phrases of the main speaker at the dedication of the battlefield of Gettysburg, have been long forgotten. But the sincere, simple sayings of an Illinois back-woodsman, scribbled on the back of an envelope in a train carriage, galvanized a people. His short and moving speech lives on as one of the classics of literary history.

The most significant and revolutionary words of all are the simple words of the simple gospel of Christ. The real power of these words has its source in the powerful God of this universe. In contrast with many words that have changed people and the course of history, these simple words are powerful because they contain and capture ultimate Truth.

The power entailed in these few simple words is an ultimate mystery to historian and philosopher alike. They are foolish to the pseudo-intellectual. They are illogical to the studied logician. They are unreasonable to the worldly prudent and wise. They are weak to the mighty and self-sufficient. After all, who were those simple folk who with a few simple words turned the Roman world upside down? How could a simple Galilean speak words that would change the calendars, coins and conditions of civilisations?

But much more than this, how could such life-changing simple words, also change the eternal souls and destiny of men? But to the foolish these simple words are words of wisdom. To the dying, they are words of life. To the weak and insecure, they are words of safety and security. To the lost, they are the power of God unto salvation!