For to me to live is…

This week our Sunday School teacher (the associate pastor of our church) recommended, or rather, charged us to write on 3×5 cards a little message and scatter them around the house.  The class we are in is titled, “Questions You’ve Always Wanted to Ask.”  We can’t get enough of this particular teacher, he is truly gifted.  Some of the questions we have dealt with are:

“I keep hearing the phrase, ‘common grace.’  What exactly is it?”

“What does it mean to pray, ‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?’”

“Why was the bible written? What does it say about itself?  How should we come to it?”

“What about people of other faiths who have never heard of Jesus?  Will they go to hell?”

“How can we conscientiously do what Romans 13 tells us to do, when those in authority over us in the government are corrupt?”

While  I would love to tackle every one of these questions and study them again and write the answers here, time just does not permit.  I do, however, want to share the one bit of information I gleaned on last Sunday’s lesson. (For the record, I gleaned a lot, but this is something that just stuck, for more reasons than one.)  The little message our pastor wanted us to write on cards was part of what the apostle Paul had written to the church at Philippi.  We were asked to fill in the blank to “For me to live is ________.”  Now if you know the verse, you know what Paul said, but it was interesting to note that not all people would know that verse and many people would put many different words in there.  If I were not a believer, I think I would probably fill in the blank with such things as happiness, joy, love or peace.  It is also interesting to note that every one of those can only be fulfilled by the One whose name fills that blank, Christ.  Even so, He does not always give us those things, but when we have them we can know they come from Him.  For Christ IS all things good, and all good things come from him.

This I culled from class on the heels of Friday nights Valentine’s Banquet at our church.  Ed Hartman was the speaker and two of the seven points I found very meaningful from his talk were ”God is good, and everything He does is good.” And, “We should always be preparing our children for eternity.”  (There was so much more I found remarkable in his talk, but these two points were solidified in Sunday School.)  I share the same prayer for my children as does Mr. Hartman for his.  I pray that when my children are grown that one of the things they will always remember about me is that I really loved Jesus.  I was very convicted in this that night because I too often scowl at my children or scold them or become frustrated with them.  It certainly is not the picture of me loving Jesus.  The truth is, I cannot love Jesus completely and perfectly, how can I even dare to hope that I can love my children that way.  I do know that loving Jesus will only help me to love them better. So…..

I decided that I would go home and put “For me to live is Christ.” all over the house.  I was going to do it myself and explain to the kids that it was for me to love Jesus better, but decided to include them.  Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  I explained to the children the context of this passage.  Paul was writing to the Philippians and he was in chains and longed to die to be with Christ, but it would be much better for others and him, at the time, to be devoted to Christ and live for Him.  I told my children that I don’t love them well sometimes and I know that if I always think about loving Jesus that it will help me to love them better.  I also pointed out that it could improve their love and obedience to us as well.  They all agreed.  We now have about twelve 3×5 cards of “For me to live is Christ.” scattered all around the house, including the two non-worded ones scribbled by Caleb.

It has been immeasurably helpful for me.  I feel like 1 Thessalonians 5:17  ”pray without ceasing.” has come alive in my life.  Seriously everything I do is for Christ and for God’s glory.  I know that I cannot continue living in this little high forever, how then shall He continue to sanctify me, but it is so wonderful to love and be loved by an amazing God.  One who is good and all that He does is good.

Sophie shares my enthusiasm.  She said later that night after I was humbled many times by them pointing to one of the cards if I began to scowl or scold, “Mama, I’m so glad for these cards, because now you’ll never be angry with us again!”