For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:8
We all know about the young man walking down the street carrying a sandwich board that on the front read ‘I am a fool for Christ.’ People laughed at him as he approached, mocking his public admission. But they stopped laughing as he passed by and they could read the other side of the board: ‘Whose fool are you?’ This young man recognized that we all are subject to someone outside of ourselves. Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:13 that we have been delivered from the power of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Before salvation, we were abiding under the wrath of God; now we are abiding under the shelter of His wings and immersed in the depths of His goodness and grace. Before salvation, we were dead in trespasses and sins; now we are alive to God. The new birth has brought us into a glorious realm of life, liberty, and assurance of eternal happiness (not just the pursuit of happiness that the American Declaration of Independence speaks of). So when our text speaks today of living or dying unto the Lord, it speaks of doing so in the enclosure of God’s love, God’s protection, and God’s will.
How sad to think of those who have never learned of the love of God, love that drew the Saviour from His side to purchase our redemption on the cross, love that treasures us as the apples of His eye, love that cares and shares in all of life’s triumphs and sorrows, love that desires the very best for us at all times. Belonging to the Lord means everything that His love can be and do for us.
While the world around us lives in mortal fear, the child of God dwells securely in our Father’s protection. Death and terrors of all kinds assail those who do not know God as the king of terrors dogs their track and the evil forces around them are a constant danger to their life, their health, their security, and their peace of mind. But the comfort of knowing that we are sheltered by the Almighty is a treasure always available to the believer. The more we learn of God in His word, the more we come to trust Him for all that is to come. And He will never fail us.
The world’s wisdom is to always look out for Number One, and Number One is always identified as yourself. But that reasoning is flawed, because we are all rapidly making our way toward our burial plot. We are just small creatures with limited capabilities and short lifespans. How much more worthwhile is living our lives according to an eternal program? Living, and dying as well, in the will of God is the highest purpose that any human can aspire to. With the Holy Spirit living within, Christians can submit our lives to the will of God. We can be like a young man who, hearing an old preacher say that the world has yet to see what God can do with one man that is wholly committed to Christ, declared, ‘By the grace of God, I’ll be that man!’ The young man’s name was Dwight Lyman Moody. None of us will accomplish what Moody did, but it is the same will of God in which we can live and die.
Oh, the comfort and challenge of living in and living for the Lord! -Jim MacIntosh