[ Selected
]
One of the most vital and
needful things today is really and truly living
the life. First of all, it is
needful because it is the only thing, which will
produce joy. Too many people are not
really joyful in their experience with God,
simply because they are not really living for
God as they ought. I'm talking
about joy, not happiness. Hapiness
is regulated by circumstances; joy is an inward
experience in the heart, which God puts
there.
This joy is
beyond the world; the happenings of the world
cannot change it. Being a Christian
is the most joyful thing, which can happen to
you, if you live it the right way. But, if you
'cut corners' on God in your experience, it will
become a most irksome task.
Secondly, living the life
is God's only means of revealing salvation to
the world. We do not discount the
many moves, which man is making to take the
Gospel to the world, but God's chosen means of
revealing light and real undestanding to the
hearts of a lost and dying world, is through you
and me living the life.
Paul wrote the Philippian
letter from a Roman jail, in a very distressing
situation. Even though he was just a
few hours from acquittal or death (At this time
he did not know which faced him), the burden of
his heart was turned away from his own situation
completely. He was trying to get
some help to a congregation, which he dearly
loved at Philippi. His words can be
of great help to you and me, today.
Down through
this second chapter, Paul has been talking about
the very submissive mind, which we must have to
be a Christian. He shows us that we
must have the very mind of Christ.
It won't do us any good to talk about that
higher power, Daniel in the lion's den, or the
three Hebrew children in the furnace of fire,
unless we can apply it to our daily
life. Paul said, "Let [not struggle
or work it up] this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians
2:5). God will give you the mind of
Christ (a submissive mind), if you will let Him.
In verse 11, Paul began to
talk about Jesus Christ truly being
Lord. He is Lord. Every
knee should bow and every tongue should confess
it now. Nevertheless, there is a day
coming, if you fail to do it now, when every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall
confess.
In verse 12,
he begins to talk about a precious
obedience. He said, "Wherefore, my
beloved, as ye have always
obeyed..." I know, that very thought
is contrary to thinking today. More
and more, the religion of the world is being
trimmed, changed, and molded to the condition,
which the world is in. My friend,
the minds of people in Christiandom are quickly
being sold on the theory, that no one can obey
God completely, that no one can please Him in
all ways. Nevertheless, I want you
to notice that the Apostle Paul is writing to a
people who had always obeyed the Lord.
I think it was mark Twain
who once said, "There are few things harder to
put up with, than the annoyance of a good
example." The annoying part of a
good example, is the inability to accomplish the
same achievement in our life. The
reason people get stirred when somebody lives
right, is because they feel they cannot or are
unable to. It always makes a crooked
stick look bad, if you lay a straight one down
beside it.
Many are
affected in a negative manner to the place that
they do not live as they ought. This is because
of the negative feeling, which comes toward them
when they want to live right and be different
than the world is. The admiration
you have for a great person can inspire you, but
it does not enable you one bit, unless they
could convey their very life into
you. Thereby, their skills would
become your skills and their abilities would
become your
abilities.
