Here’s a question for you to consider: would you say you are living a well-ordered and purposeful life? Do you have goals for the future? As you connect the dots in your life, are you confident they are leading you closer to Christ and His desire for you?
There is a very real danger of just living rather pointlessly, one day at a time, without seeing the big picture. Sadly, there are seasons in our lives when the significance of living for Christ fails to grip our hearts.
For example, how did yesterday go? At the end of the day, was it just an assortment of this and that from sunrise until bedtime? Can you reflect on yesterday (or the last little while) and be satisfied that your choices have been deliberately good and your activities positive, purposeful and God-glorifying? Or are you drifting somewhat aimlessly?
Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus about how richly they had been blessed in Christ. Salvation wasn’t merely a fire escape from Hell. It was a total package of spiritual and eternal blessings. Picked up out of the gutter of sin; rescued from the dark, evil rip-tide of this godless age; dead to God — absolutely barren and unfruitful in sin, but now made alive in Christ; raised up and positioned with Christ in the heavenlies.
Who can measure the distance between what we once were in our sins and what we now are in Christ? Who can calculate the riches that are ours — our eternal inheritance? Who can even imagine what our eternity will be like? Paul told them that as far as they could peer into the eternal ages, there would be nothing but God’s ongoing display of “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7
Dear Child of God, by grace, He has picked you up. He has placed you in His family. Your identity has changed. You are a member of Heaven’s royal family now. Don’t live a low life. Don’t live casually — as if God has nothing for you to do. Don’t breeze through life “footloose and fancy-free.” Here is how Paul put it back then, but it is still highly relevant to us this very day: Ephesians 5:15-17 Amplified
Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17 Amplified
Live purposefully. Live accurately — not sloppily. Living carelessly is, first of all, dishonouring to our Lord Jesus Christ. But it also robs us of the true joy Christians experience when we are walking in conscious fellowship with the Lord. Careless and pointless living leads to a seared or guilty conscience that shatters the confidence we should have as we move forward in our lives. (1 John 3:21)
When we fail to live out our lives in the consciousness of eternal significance, an inner sense of unfulfillment takes root and grows, which in turn leads to discontentment, unease and a lack of spiritual joy.
Heart Warming 17 Minute Video of How a Mormon Found Christ
Before this Bible Bite concludes, can you just breathe out a little prayer right now telling the Lord that you want to live this day accurately, wisely, and purposefully? Tell Him you want to make the very most of the time He gives you today.
Dear Child of God, don’t live vaguely — be focused. Understand what His will is for you; latch on to it and follow the path of His will each day.
Don’t waste your time. This is another day that God has given you. Most of us are awake for at least 1000 minutes each day. How much pleasure will I bring to the Lord as I live the next 1000 minutes? As we go about our work, our studies, our hobbies, or our vacation today, may we be more intentional in our awareness of our walk with the Lord and before the Lord.
Don’t hesitate to share a thought from your personal experience or a verse that has been a blessing to you – in the comment section below. Or, if you would like to reach out privately, click below.
