Henry David Thoreau once wrote "To be awake is to be alive." One can take this to mean that sleep is related to death, or that one truly doesn't live when one is lethargic, lazy, and just sleeps all the time. Considering this, what does it mean to truly live?
At the college spring retreat this weekend, the topic covered was Philippians chapter 1. The apostle Paul is writing to the Philippians while he is in prison. He is not in a distraught state, but is rather joyful. This is because he knew what it meant to live. Paul wrote "For to me to live is Christ..." Christ had called him higher and deeper and he had answer that call.
There are many Christians and non-Christians alike who still don't realize this because they build so many walls and feel to insecure to tear them down. "I have to work overtime so my boss will finally give me a promotion so I can make more money." Wall. "I must buy this ridiculously expensive piece of clothing because I need to stay with the "in" crowd otherwise I'd die." Wall. "Sports matter more than spending time with the saints, the Bible, the church, etc." Wall. "I can't preach the gospel because I'm not good at it." Wall. Even when we finally begin to take one wall down, three more spring up in it's place. It took 28 years for the Berlin Wall to be torn down. Twenty-eight years! Look at it this way. To live is Christ, which is something so wonderful it is beyond compare. But because of the walls we put up, we cannot have this wonderful thing. That's like missing some of the greatest moments of your life because there's a wall in the way.
To be called by Christ is a gift. To answer the call is you chipping away at that wall. To go higher and deeper into that call is to tear those walls down and to live. To live is Christ.
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