Pastor’s Pen 11/14/2021

Pastor’s Pen 11/14/2021

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Philippines 1:21

What is your focus? What drives you? What motivates you? What is your first love? If you call yourself a Christian, the answer is the same for each question, Jesus. The problem for many people is what they pronounce with their lips does not match what their heart reveals through their actions.

Jesus Christ is our King (1Timothy 6:15), our Lord and our     Savior, and His Kingdom is not of this World.  Paul writes to    the Philippians, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” With that in mind, we should be living lives that are  Kingdom-focused and not Worldly focused.

By the time Paul had written the epistle to the Church in Philippi, he had been whipped, beaten, stoned, and left for dead. He was in prison when he wrote this letter. His main   concern, apart from proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was to live his life to bring glory to God, and Paul had the assurance that, even in his suffering, he was accomplishing that goal (“to live is Christ”). However, Paul knew that even in death, he would bring glory to God. But, even better, it would bring him into the presence of the King of Kings and   the Lord of Lords. On that day, he would live with his Savior forever (“to die is gain”). Paul longed for the day when death would bring him face to face with Jesus.

Christian, you should yearn for an eternity with Christ. Heaven will be far better than our earthly life, for we will be present with our Savior in a place devoid of sin, sickness, and death     (2 Corinthians 5:8). Whatever a believer gives up in this life, they will gain in heaven. However, before death calls us home, our purpose on Earth is to be salt and light to a lost and dying world. We should deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him so that even our death will glorify Christ Jesus.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark

 

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