To really live, we need more than food, clothing, and shelter–the basic necessities of life. How many of the nearly seven and a half billion people on this planet live meaningful lives? And, of that number, how many are actually living for something which will outlast this life?
The apostle Paul described the former lives of the Ephesian brethren, saying, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among whom we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:1-3).
Spiritually speaking, without Jesus, we are the walking dead. But Jesus came that we might “have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). It is only in union with Christ that such life is possible. In Romans six, Paul reminds us that when we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into His death (vs. 3). But, then, he goes on to explain that the reason we were “buried with Christ through baptism into death” was so that we might be raised up to “walk in newness of life” (vs. 4). Only Jesus can put life into our lives. He is “the way, and the truth, and the life…” (Jn. 14:6).
Purposeful living–the kind that leads us to heaven–is impossible apart from union with Christ. Jesus Himself said, “apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). Paul understood the secret to purposeful living. Christ is that secret. Paul faced death with confidence, saying, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Ph. 1:21). But he also faced life with confidence, saying, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Ph. 4:13). So, “if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rm. 14:8).