We have been hearing many messages that Christ is coming soon. From many centuries the believers are preaching that Christ is coming soon to take us to be with him forever. Does that create a negative impact on you that he is not going to come in the near future? That is he is not going to come in your generation but in the generations to come. Unknowingly, I was having the above feeling in mind. So I planned many things for my future, i.e. to do a PG course after my bachelor degree and then work for many years, make money and then finally to work for our Lord.
Recently, I was attending an ICPF(Inter Collegiate Prayer Fellowship) camp session named Mission Challenge. Even though the speaker was preaching about working for Christ, a small thought came to my mind “What if Christ is going to come in my generation? Will you be taken with him?” Suddenly a feeling came to me that He is at the doorsteps. That though shattered my concepts of working for Christ. In fact, it helped me to realize the importance of giving our Life for Christ.
Jesus showed us a perfect example with his life so that we could follow. And what He wants from us is to walk in His footsteps or just to emulate Him. Some of us at least think that the greatest thing that we can do with our life is to make money or become famous. But he made me understand that the greatest thing that we can do with our life is to live for Christ. It is not about working for him but about living for him. If we can love him with all our heart, nothing can impede us to live for Christ and we won’t even consider this as a work.
It is not about living our life with Christ but about living our life for Christ. We should really understand the difference between both. Well, it is very good to say that ‘I am living a life with Christ’. I believe it is what most of us including me does i.e. living with Christ, and trying to maintain a decorum of life. Here we are trying to bring Christ into our life. But don’t we dare to take a further step, live for Christ?
First we need to analyze our present condition. Are we leading a successful Christian life now? Don’t say an emphatic yes to this question. First we need to understand what Christian life is. Christian life is not about others saying about you that you are a pious follower of faith. In Acts chapter 10, it is written that the ‘Disciples of Christ’ were called Christians first at Antioch. The word Christian means the follower of Christ. So a successful Christian life means a life in which one is successful in following Christ. To be exact from the above verse, if we are his disciple we can claim that we are leading a successful Christian life.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-27). So are we His disciples from the above definition? Following Christ in not so easy and at the same time it is not a herculean task. We have to pay a price for that. We should really admire Paul the apostle for his encouraging statement “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”. From his life we can see the price he had given. Whatever was to his profit, he considered it as a loss for the sake of Christ. What Christ wants from us is that we should be His disciple.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit… (Mathew 28:19). Here Christ is telling us not to make believers but to make disciples. So it is our responsibility to obey him and without being a disciple we cannot make another disciple for Christ. We should not be satisfied being a believer. But we should try our best to be his disciple. That is what Christ is demanding from us. Give our life for Christ. Remember that is the greatest thing that you can do with your life.
