This is a guest post by Arold Augustin, founder of a developing ministry known as Living For Jesus Alone Ministries. You can contact him on Twitter. If you are interested in writing a post for us, visit our Guest Post page. You can also view other guest posts by clicking here.
When it comes to the atonement that Jesus has provided us on the cross, He didn’t give His life for us, so that we could go on and continue to live the same kind of unacceptable and detestable life that we once used to live. Our salvation is based upon God pulling us out of the destructive state we were once in which had brought spiritual death into our lives by giving us eternal life. The real issue had to do with our sinfulness that had put us into such a terrible situation where we had no desire at all to live in a way that pleases God.
It’s important to realize that Christ’s death on the cross truly highlights the severity and seriousness of our sins committed against a holy and righteous God. The good news is that the death of Jesus has made it absolutely possible for us to come out of the ungodly state we’d been prior to being saved and step into holiness. Christ came and laid down His life for us in order to purchase us from an eternal debt that we could have never paid on our own, so that we could live for Him alone. That simply means that we owe Him everything.
Therefore, the only thing that we can do is to offer ourselves to God just as we’re commanded to so according to (Romans 12:1). Acting out of gratitude in response to what Christ has done for us has to become the driving factor that should compel us to live for the Lord in such a way that clearly demonstrates that His excruciatingly painful death on the cross on behalf of us was not in vain. If we’re taking a thorough look at the 4 gospel books, it’s very easy for us to come to the realization that Christ as our model has given us a clear example regarding how we’re to live for God through total submission.
His foremost objective was to please and glorify God by obeying Him in everything. Keep in mind, the word of God says that we have to glorify God with our body; in order words, by how we live (1 Corinthians 6:20). Our main responsibility after being saved is to bring glory to God in everything. Christ is no longer here on this earth in the flesh; therefore, we’ve become His representative on this earth instead. We’re responsible to make sure that our lives reflect the One whom we represent.
It’s true that we’ll never be able to live just as Christ did because He was sinless and we are sinners, but if we’re willing to let Him control every aspect of our lives through the Holy Spirit through the means of total surrender to His authority and lordship, we’ll be able to satisfy the standard of holiness and righteousness of God. Truthfully, Christ is the very One who has made us become acceptable in the sight of God by exchanging His righteousness for our own unrighteousness.
Living for Christ is not based upon our human ability. Instead, it’s based wholly on what Christ has done for us on the cross, along with what He is able to do through us by the power of the Holy Spirit if we’re willing to allow Him to do that.
An amazing post. Crystal clear and straight to the point. Very, very inspiring. Last paragraph…WOW
Thank you for sharing!!!
Let’s allow living for the Lord to become a top priority in our lives. We should strive to please Christ in everything we’re undertaking. The reason is that the Lord’s death was intended to pull us out of our sins which had placed us right under Satan’s dominion and transitioned us right into His Kingdom. He becomes our Savior and Lord, and we’re His own property. His glorious light is being shun on every aspect of our lives. Therefore, our tendencies, attitudes, as well as our behaviors must be aligned with the One whom we’re serving.
Agreed, thanks so much Arold!