To Live Is Christ
by Laurence Windham

During the days (weeks, months, years) of my Christian infancy, like many people my zeal far outdistanced my understanding of God's will. Born a rebel and then born-again a radical I often prayed humbly (?) to the Lord that the moment He was finished with me, would He please take my life. Later I found out that was His plan all along! My days, I found out, are numbered. And so are yours.

So, what to do? This adventure called Life unfolds before us daily. Situations and circumstances surround us. Opportunities and decisions present themselves. And then there is all that grocery shopping, lawn mowing, and soccer practice to attend to. How then are we to decide, deal with, and invest our limited time under the sun? Back in 1988, whilst cruising through my Christian walk by attending a broad evangelical church, some friends and I came across a fragment of something called, The Westminster Shorter Catechism. There at the bottom of a page in the Hymnal we were sharing, was life's greatest question, "What is the chief end of man?" But the question remained not alone, for underneath that plaintiff cry of all human kind was this answer; "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." This fact rang true with our heart's desire. We wrestled each other for the book; we didn't listen to the sermon that day, and we read and reread and then later discussed this epiphanial, climactical, revelation of God's purpose for man.

We live to bring glory to God. Paul would tell the Philippians, "According to my earnest expectation, and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death. For me to live is Christ…" Life for the Christian is not to simply be "Christ-centered" whatever that is supposed to mean. (Too often, my observation is that all this mantra entails is that you own a Bible, don't cuss in public, and/or you only sleep out of wedlock with another church member rather than a pagan. Paul, though, is talking about life after death—here on earth, before the resurrection. The disciple's life is based on dying to self so as to glorify God. This is so much more than simply listening to Christian radio.

Consider the fact that both in the Old and New Testaments, believers are called to live distinctly from the people of the world. The result of such collective living produces an illumination that cannot go unnoticed by the darkness of our culture. This obvious distinction that is supposed to come from the teaching of Scripture, is to manifest itself in every area of the believers life. Tragically, for many, we are living in the era of blind legalism, deaf Gnosticism and dumb contemporism. All three think they are keeping the faith and pleasing God and the other two are not. The result is a whole lot of religion, a lot less light, and glory to God that comes by woe rather than weal.

Inherited religion is a heavy yoke to bear. Especially when coupled with a world-view that is self-absorbed. When this is so, God exonerates His character (brings Himself glory) by His judging and disciplining the church. He takes from His people rather than gives to them. They may remain rich, healthy, and have a cat that doesn't scratch the furniture but leanness of soul is a sore punishment that is felt throughout life. This does not represent a life seeking to glorify God and falls way short of enjoying His presence. When we lose the purpose for which we were created, we may gain the whole world, but this gain is offset by the greatest loss-our souls.

Simply now, how are we then to live? What first principle is there that will insure we are pleasing God? I'd like to suggest we reevaluate our lifestyle by reading the Bible as honestly and as childlike as we can with this one question in our mind—What does God like? All of us have found ourselves in a situation where we have little or nothing in common with the people we sometimes find ourselves with. Like, say, a multi-marketing meeting. Everyone there is totally stoked about selling other people on selling other people to sell other people, well, you know… The inspirational guest speaker is adored, the participants are rabid and you find yourself nodding and smiling and looking for the exit.

When it comes to the church, I think God left the building a long time ago. We are so full of ourselves, our agendas, and our interests, that our enjoyment and our purposes have little semblance to commonality with God.

What does scripture reveal about God's interests?

Does God like children?

What kind of worship pleases Him?

Would gossip be one of His favorite ways to pass time?

Is He interested in family worship?

Would He like you giving some time to meditation? Prayer?

What are His views on education? Discipline? Amusement?

Did He say anything about wives working?

Does He approve of beer? (Yes. Thought I would give you at least one answer.)

This type of deliberate evaluation takes honesty. It also takes courage, two commodities that are always in short supply. But we are talking about life; your life and mine. We have to compare and contrast the present investment to Churchiness with God-like living.

The little boy stood at the candy counter for what seemed like hours. His constant moving back and forth, not to mention the resulting finger smudges on the display's glass finally got to the proprietor. "Boy!" the store owner thundered, "would you please make a choice!" The lad looked up at the man void of understanding and explained, "Sir, I have only one nickel to spend. I can spend it any way I want, but I can only spend it once."

Have a nice life. It will be over soon.