Good day dear friends.
We continue to affirm that our lives were made to count and here is our study guide to help us Live a Life That Counts!
Thursday: 2 Timothy 4:7-8 speak of Paul’s final thoughts about the Christian faith and how he had lived it. Please find and read this passage and let it speak to your heart. Apply what you hear with your heart, to your life.
Here is that passage from 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Paul knew from day one what he was to suffer for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and still he said yes. I often wonder how many of us, myself included, would truly give ourselves to the Lord knowing what lay ahead. Would foreknowledge of difficult days ahead keep you in bed, instead of going out and facing what you knew you had to face? Would foreknowledge of the struggles of being a Christian keep you from being one? Paul saw the risen Christ. A man who was supposed to have been dead some years before, now alive, and in glory, helped Paul know he had had a life, not death experience. His invitation to become a Christian from Christ was, like for us, an invitation to become a part of a life that never dies. Suffering may come, and that's a normal, natural thing, but we press on nonetheless. So, we read Paul saying he's been faithful: He's "fought the good fight," "finished the race," and "kept the faith." What lays ahead nothing but great things: a "crown of righteousness," in other words, the symbol of a life well-lived, a life lived in faithfulness, and a life that would not end with our earthly death.
Can you hear Paul speaking to you about what is truly important in this life? For Paul, being well-connected, and influential in this world, was not as important as being well-connected and influential for the Lord. Sunday, we said we can plot our life, but until we come to life in Christ, our lives will not count in the eyes of the Lord.
PRAYER: Loving God of all life, speak to my heart about what truly counts in Your eyes, and then let me live in that way. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
