When God, by His grace, saves someone, He calls them to Himself – they now belong to Jesus Christ and live for Him and His glory, for His will and purpose. When we enter into relationship with the Lord, we enter into a life of being His possession, of being under His Lordship – a life of discipleship. We are His in the midst of this world – our life is no longer our own, and this world is no longer our home.
Our life is now to be lived in obedience to His word; lived in response to His grace at work in us and through us. It’s a life of worship, of walking in His ways, of doing His will. But it begins with recognizing that the grace of God indeed calls us to this, and that we are dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live it.
When Barnabas came to Antioch, he encouraged the believers there to remain true to the Lord. In the word we read that we’re to not forsake our assembling together, but are to encourage one another onto love and good deeds, and all the more as we see the day drawing near. The scriptures are full of encouragement for this path that the Lord has called us to. And there is practical instruction in the Bible for this. In the word we see that we’re to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, to set our minds on the things above, to fix our eyes on Jesus, to long for the pure milk of the word, to run the race that is set before us, etc. We’re to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness and cultivate a God-ward mind-set.
Life in this world is not conducive to living the call of God on our lives. The cares and enticements of this world choke out the word and we become unfruitful. We need the on-going encouragement of one another. We need to be reminded of the call of God that we might press on to lay hold of that to which the Lord has called us. Our desire is to be used as a place of reminder and encouragement in this. Probably the one single passage that best sums up what we’re called to and what we need to be reminded of and encouraged in on an on-going basis is Titus 2:11-15:
“11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
15Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” (ESV)
We are no longer our own, and this world is no longer our home. We are to be men and women of God in the midst of the world. To have a passion for all of Christ in all of life. All to His glory!
