“‘So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.'”
Joshua 24:13 – 15
“‘I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.'”
Jeremiah 13:24 & 25
“All the people answered, ‘Let His blood be on us and on our children!'”
Matthew 27:25
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
“All the believers were one in heart and mind.”
Acts 4:12 and Acts 4:32
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Living the Life
My kids and I have been listening recently to a CD by Group1Crew called Ordinary Dreamers. They are a Christian rap group. (I know…strange that a 38 year-old, homeschooling, mother of 5 likes rap.) One particular song “Livin the Life” really seemed to make a connection to today’s scriptures in my mind.
Joshua, nearing his death, recalls all the ways that God has led the Israelites starting all the way back with Abraham to their present situation in the Promised Land, living in houses they didn’t build, eating food they didn’t grow. God had led, God had provided. They were living the life.
Move forward around 800 years and the Israelites are given the message from the prophet Jeremiah that because they forgot the Lord and trusted in false gods, they were about to be scattered like chaff in the wind. Their supposed “security” about to be destroyed in the wrath of God’s judgement. They thought they were living the life, but it was not God’s life.
We move forward another 600 years and we read about the Crucifixion of Christ. Jesus is at the end of His 3 year ministry, in which He had attempted to reach the people of Israel, offering them Himself as their Savior, wanting to give them the good life in Him. The people are given the choice to have either Jesus or Barabbas released. They choose Barabbas.
Then in Acts, we read the story of Peter and John being thrown into jail by the Sanhedrin, following the healing of the crippled beggar, and then questioned about whose power accomplished this. Peter preaches his first sermon to the people, proclaiming the name of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Upon their release, they return to their fellow group of believers and pray for God’s guidance and protection. The believers are certainly living the life. A life of unity, faith and dependence on Jesus. They are following hard after Him.
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What I’m not saying is that living the life means no worries, no hardships, only smooth travels. But rather that living the life means that Jesus is continually there to help me through. Through Him I have salvation, through Him I have forgiveness, through Him I have eternal security…that is living the life.
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Lord,
Everything I am, everything I have, is all due to You. You are the provider of all. I praise You for giving me the chance to live the life with You. Thank you for covering me with Your blood of redemption. Help me on this journey through life, through its ups and downs to hold fast to You, to follow hard after You, to live the life You have chosen for me.
Amen
– Beckie (look2thehills)
from the archives, July 17, 2010
Sixty-six books in a year 