Musick-al Note # 82
What is the most important thing for you to do in life? Well, many things are important and the ordering of our lives show what we think is most important. What is worth our work, labor, energy, time and the products of these things? A few years of pleasure? Is this all there is to life? When we grow older and life is seen in better perspective, we begin to see that there is more to life than that which is seen on the surface. Life is more than pleasure and fulfilling of our own desires. We begin to see life that extends into eternity and the older we get the more that realization comes to us unless we rebel and refuse to observe the natural phenomenon of life and death and the inborn yearning for life after death. Placing spiritual emphasis upon our lives is difficult when much of the world around calls to us to make our lives pleasurable, yet eternal life lies beyond death of the body. Please note what Jesus said about life after death (Matthew 22:32, Mark 12:26) “God is the God of the living, not the dead”. How are we to obtain assurance of that life for ourselves? .
Paul said that the Gospel is God’s power to save every believer (Romans 1:16). What is that ‘gospel’? Paul said that the ‘gospel’ is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). How can we have Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection in our lives? Paul gives the solution in Romans 6:17-18 that when we have obeyed a form (or pattern) of this teaching (i.e. the death, burial and resurrection of Christ) by dying to sin, being buried in water, raised to new life) we are made free from sin and become God’s child (Galatians 36-27).
We must deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). No thoughtful person should lightly consider life without Jesus for He is the giver of life (Genesis 2:7, John 1:3-4). Following Him means doing His will (Matthew 7:13-27, John 14:23). He has made a new covenant that we must follow. Read this New Testament daily, commit it to memory, obey its words and eternal life is promised us (John 17:2-3). What kind of life are we then to live? “Seeking first the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 6:33). “Forsaking all and following Jesus. Hate father, mother, children, land, houses and life to love Him most.” (Luke 14:26-33) Are these not for us? Can we serve Jesus and deny His right to rule our lives? Can we fulfill the lusts of the flesh and remain His? By no means! Can we seek first the pleasures of this life and forsake His cause and still be doing His will? Is it of no concern for us that the world is lost in sin and doomed to eternal destruction (Matthew 7:21-27, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)? Can we deny the Word of God to establish our own way of salvation (Galatians 1:6-9)?
Brethren, we ought to THINK and ACT according to HIS Will that we may be given eternal life when we pass from life on earth into the eternal realms of God (Hebrews 5:9).
Gordon Musick
Musick-al Notes 