Christ our Motivation and Agent for Change

Wars captivate and mobilize whole nations, especially if a nation’s fate depended on winning a particular war. Though the ultimate fruits of war are horrifying, yet nothing of this world so dramatically spurs on people’s creativity and diligent productivity.
In much the same way, Christ calls His people to wage war daily in the spiritual places by any and all means. Those who are blessed with spiritual discernment, who actively participate in the spiritual conflict at hand, experience a similarly sobering effect as that of carnal war minus, of course, the mass devastation and killing.
There is already a spiritual war going on in our midst, which will continue raging whether or not any particular man consciously engages himself therein. This spiritual battle, to which all Christ’s workers are called, has this very useful effect of inspiring sober thinking and purposeful living. It involves every aspect of our lives, the world around us and invisible, spiritual forces.
Christ says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the onslaught of His church. And what are gates for, except defense? This must mean that the church is called to take a forward moving, offensive position against evil, however Christ might command.
Mind you, Spirit-led action pays absolutely no respect to our fleshly inclinations. Therefore, in order to be obedient to our Master, we must first embrace Him as our otherworldly Point of Reference. We will learn from Him directly how to put what remains of the rest of this life in its proper place. If a day comes when we might sacrifice time, money, energy, or physical welfare, this must be according to His unequivocal commands.
We do well to thirst for one more word from our Lord, if only we might have a glimpse into His divine mind. God does the hard part, which is to fill every seeker with an empowering vision of His kingdom.
In any case, so long as we have brains to think, let’s assemble every strategic effort for the purpose of seeking the Lord and His kingdom on earth. There is no better invested life than one that is consumed in the Master’s plans. Christ will redeem our tainted, material possessions by using them to accomplish His spiritual objectives.
If we know Christ, then we have access to an infinite supply of motivation for radically altering our life-structures. Not only does Christ encourage us with words, but He sends us His Spirit to transform the way we use our time, money and energy. The Spirit of Christ is God in our midst, equipping us to engage in the purposes to which He calls us.
With Jesus Christ in command we can live boldly and freely because, in Him, we have nothing lose. In Him we have everything, in Him we can lose nothing.
When our faith is grounded in Christ, then our contentment, joy, generosity, courage, Godly obedience and loving devotion will all be grounded in Him as well. When our main assets are grounded in heaven, we will be able to accept the loss of fleeting, worldly things with joy. Even if we lose our earthly lives, we will lose none of the heavenly treasure that we have inherited in Christ.
by Patrick Roberts
This is an excerpt from To the Church of the West, Scattered Throughout the World. Find this book and similar articles at www.BooksByPatrick.com