2 Corinthians 5:15
And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 2198
Live: I live, am alive
From the Greek word 'zaó' (pronounced dzah'-o): to live, experience God's gift of life. To live a moral life, have a Christ-like character.
A life of devotion to Christ, a consecrated set-apart life lived in Christ as He lives in us. We are His temple, His dwellingplace not made with hands.
>Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."
>2 Timothy 2:21 "So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work."
>Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life."
A life that lives for Jesus loves Jesus and God and everyone else. True Love that comes from God and a relationship with God cannot hate anyone. For hate is sin; sin has no place in the body of Christ. Sin and all it contains is a blemish, a spot, a stain on the body. When it makes itself known, it needs to be removed immediately. Repentance washes the sin away and watchfulness keeps it away.
>Colossians 1:22 "Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault."
God is looking for a perfect church. Not perfect the way the world defines it, but perfect in Him and in His Word. Living for Jesus is living for God through God's Word. When His Word is in us, we want to live for Christ. We can't help it: we love Him so much for what He has done for us!
A life lived for Christ is a holy life. That's what it means to be set apart. Our faith in Christ separates from the rest of the world which lives for itself and its own desires. We live for Christ, choosing to be obedient to God our heavenly Father above what we desired when we lived for our own pleasures in the world. Now we choose to please God.
>Ephesians 1:4-5 "For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will."
>Leviticus 20:7 "Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God."
>Hebrews 12:4 "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
A life lived for Christ chooses to abstain from sexual immorality. By living for Christ we obediently bring our sexual appetites into submission to the Word of God. We cannot be sexually immoral and still expect to call ourselves Christians.
>Romans 8:5 "Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit."
Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality are all sexual sins and are abhorred by God. He has chosen us to be His people and He demands that His people be holy and set apart from sexual immorality. We are to live morally strong lives which begin in our hearts. Mere desires to be free from sexual impurity is not enough. We need the Spirit of God living in us, for it is He who imparts the wisdom of God in the Word to us who believe.
A life lived for Christ spends time with Christ. I have noticed that when I watch the clock, time passes slowly. But when I am in the Word, studying it out for myself, time passes without me being aware of it. And before I know it 3 hours, 4 hours, even 6 hours have passed by and it doesn't even feel like I have been studying that long. How awesome is that?!
>Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that there is a time for everything.
>Mark 14:38 "Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Watch and Pray. Watch out! for the devil is sneaky in his temptings to us. Pray for strength to overcome temptations. Pray for wisdom and discernment that we may know what is morally right and live the life God has prepared for us to live. Pray for the love of God to fill us so full that there is no room for sin to enter in and take hold of us. Pray to God just to hear His voice, to know that He is near.
Watch from the fortress of His righteousness, that we may see the enemy of our souls attacking from a distance, that we may sound the alarms to the others to come and battle with us. A life lived for Christ is an embattled life. But we fight on our knees, in submission and humbleness of heart to God, with our hands folded or lying prostrate before Him. We pour our hearts out to God and He pours Himself into us.
>Ephesians 6:10 A life lived for Christ is strong in its Lord and the power of His might.
A life lived for Christ is better than a life lived without Christ. I know. I've lived both and I prefer to live for Christ.
The Lord Is My Salvation - Keith & Kristyn Getty
I Am Not My Own - Keith & Kristyn Getty
My Jesus, My Savior
Give Me Jesus - Fernando Ortega
Because He Lives - Classic Hymn
Above All - Lenny LeBlanc
Only There - Shane & Shane
Better Than Life - Phil Wickham
Different - Micah Tyler
More - Red Rocks Worship
Magnificent Obsession - Steven Curtis Chapman
Remember To Remember - Steven Curtis Chapman
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