THINK TOGETHER
How would you fill in this blank: The best thing about life is _____.
READ TOGETHER
Yesterday we talked about why we don't have to be afraid of anything – even dying. Why? Because we are connected to Jesus so that when we die we "gain" everything that is his and we gain Jesus himself. We get to live with Jesus forever. But being a Christian also means that we get to live with Jesus RIGHT NOW. Every day. Let's look again at the same verse we looked at yesterday:
Philippians 1:21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
The Apostle Paul says that to live is Christ and to die is gain. But the world will try to tell you the exact opposite. Much of what you will hear as you grow up will tell you that to live is to gain. Get everything you can right now! Get more stuff. Make more money. Earn more awards. Achieve more. Get all you can while you can. And then in the end you can die and go to Jesus.
But that's the opposite of what the Bible says. The Bible says that we can give up everything now and then, in the end, we get everything with Jesus.
Jesus gave up everything for us. He left Heaven to come to earth as a poor person to experience all that we experience. He left all the glory and riches of Heaven behind in order to gain in the end. What did he gain? He gained YOU and ME. He got back everything he gave up and more. He got US. But only because he didn't try to gain the whole world while he was on earth.
To live is Christ means that we can live this same way. We can be OK with giving things up, with losing, with sharing, with sacrificing, just like Jesus. Why? Because that's how we learn to trust Jesus and his love more and more while we live. That's how we learn to love Jesus and others more and more. And we know that in the end we get it all. We get all that is Jesus'. We get all that our hearts could ever want. We get Christ and he gets us.
Because of Jesus we have all of God's love and all of his grace right now.
With Jesus we don't have to gain everything the world offers to us.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
If somebody walked into your house what would they see that would tell them what is important to your family? Are these things the most important thing to you?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, I have all that is yours and I can live like you did, sharing everything with others. Help me to live like you did today and every day. Amen.
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