How Do I Live For God?

Being a Youth Pastor for the last 6 1/2 years, there has been one debate or question that has plagued, and is plaguing, many young people and adults alike. That question is, "How can I live for God?" With many, it seems impossible and unattainable, while others simply do not understand how that this can be done. Let's take a look at what the Scripture says about this issue.

First of all, let's look at the Salvation experience. When a believing sinner comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, and accepts Him as Lord and Saviour, we are baptized into Christ, buried with Him by baptism into His death, and raised with Him in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-5). What this means is at that moment in time when the believing sinner says yes to Jesus, in the Mind of God, the old man (the old individual that you used to be) has been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). And in the Mind of God that old man has been buried with Christ, with a new man being raised with and in Christ Jesus. That person is a new creature in Christ Jesus, with old things passing away, and all things became new (II Cor. 5:17). That person is now "born-again," with Christ now being the Lord of their life.

Now, here's where the complaining begins. Now that the person is Saved, he/she automatically thinks that now they have the power to live a holy life unto God within their own strength and ability. However, they find out very quickly that it's impossible to live this Christian life by means of self-will. Look at Galatians 3:1-5. Paul, after founding the church at Galatia on the Message of the Cross, the religious leaders of Israel came in and began to teach "another gospel" to these people, which was not the same Gospel that Paul had preached to these people. When they heard the Message of the Cross, they experienced a freedom that they had never experienced before. However, as soon as these people embraced Law, they instantly fell under the yoke of bondage, for Law always leads to bondage. Paul, after hearing this, writes, "Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are you made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). In other words, "do you think that you can brought to a place of spiritual maturity by means of self-effort?" They were practicing Salvation by Faith, but Sanctification by the flesh.

This is where many Christians today find themselves. To be perfectly honest, this is where I found myself before the Message of the Cross was revealed to me. I loved God and wanted to live for Him, but I found that I could not live for Him the way I knew I needed to, and I didn't understand why? The answer was that I was trying to Sanctify myself through the efforts of self. Let it ever be understood, self can never sanctify self, just as self can never save self. Self has to be brought under the subjection of the Cross. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, " If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross daily, and follow Me." Denying one's self does not mean to deny yourself pleasure, but to deny one's own will, strength, and ability. Actually, this means understanding that in and of ourselves, we cannot do this. We must ever "take up our Cross," which means to place one's Faith in the Cross of Christ, which means that everything that we receive as a Christian, came to us by way of Calvary. This must be done daily, which means everyday. Not just on Sunday's or Wednesday's, but everyday. By doing this, this allows the Holy Spirit, Who works exclusively through the Cross of Christ, to work in our lives, to take out the bad and put in the good.

This is the only way that we as Christians can have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. As well, this is the only way that we can life a holy life unto God. Christ paid the price to save us from sin, and He also died to save us from self. And at Calvary, He broke the grip of sin over our lives so that we could enjoy "more abundant life" (John 10:10). In short, we came in by Faith in Christ and Him Crucified, we stay in by Faith in Christ and Him Crucified.