Title 「Kind Counsel for the Best Life」
Contents
Kind advice for the best life
Col 2:6-7
2009.11.8
“Oh, by the grace of God”
The Christian life begins by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord.
That's right. For those who want to live their best life, those who have accepted him as the Lord of life must act in it. This is what it means to live in Christ.
Those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and live in Him seek the best life in the midst of the worst adversity. Of course, people who live their best lives have their characteristics. It is to live according to kind counsel. The apostle Paul gave three exhortations in Colossians 2:7. Kind counsel for the best life is a guide for all of us today. A couple of lovers went to an upscale restaurant. The waiter asked, “What would you like your guests to have?” The man said he would do “steak”. When the waiter asked again, “What can I do?” the man said with the utmost dignity. “Do your best!”
1. We must deeply root our roots in the Lord.
The best life depends on where you put your roots in life and where you build your home. In Jeremiah 17:5-8, God compared the cursed person and the blessed person to a bush in the desert and a tree planted by the water. A person who is like a bush in the desert believes in people, and it refers to a person who has made his body his strength and his heart has turned away from God. Such a person does not see good things coming. But those who trust and trust in God will receive such blessings as a tree planted by the waters, not afraid when the heat comes, its leaves are green, there is no worry in a year of drought, and the fruit does not cease.
This is the story of Elena, who devoted herself as a missionary to China. While working forcibly in a harsh environment, he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis and had to quit the missionary work. When she returned to her hometown, she cleared the barren land she had received as an inheritance, farmed, and sent the harvest to Chinese missionaries as mission expenses. Then one day, the thresher got caught in the thresher and had his right hand amputated. Still, she did not blame God. But I prayed humbly and depended more on God. Although she quit farming, she started another job. It was to build a nursing home and serve the elderly. Her nursing home ministry has spread successfully. As a result, she was given the title of ‘mother of the elderly’.
It is because we are deeply rooted in the Lord who gives us the strength to do all things (Philippians 4:13).
Even trees planted by water can have heat and drought. However, a tree planted by the water is not afraid or worried about the heat and drought. Rather, trees planted by the water will have their roots deeper and more spread out when heat or drought comes. Likewise, believers who are rooted in the Lord and built on it will experience the Lord's grace and peace more deeply and more broadly as they face the hardships and sufferings of life.
Therefore, paradoxically, we believe that believers who are deeply rooted in the Lord and built on it will rather live the best life in the worst circumstances.
2. We must stand firm in our faith.
The Colossians believed in Jesus Christ through the Apostle Paul, and learned the truth of the gospel and the lessons of faith through Epaphras (Colossians 1:7,8), who was also imprisoned with Paul in a Roman prison. However, many of them fell into heresy. Therefore, they did not believe nor did what they were taught. That, of course, is a retrograde to the best life. That is why the Apostle Paul emphasized that we must stand firm in the faith as we have been taught. Those who live the church life as they have been taught will conduct themselves in an orderly manner. And those who stand firm in the faith, that is, those who become stronger in your faith, will overcome the tests and temptations of heresy, and will overcome the tribulation and persecution of the world.
After sharing the word of God with his colleagues, Pastor Bonhoeffer drew a cross on the ground and offered his life to God as a sacrifice for the peace of mankind. Those who stand firm in the faith as they have been taught have a cross. There is a mission and there are hardships. However, those who firmly believe in God as my shield, my glory, and the lifter of my head, and who fully trust in the Lord, will experience the Lord's peace and keeping them at peace. Therefore, we believe that believers who stand firm in the faith as they have been taught will rather live the best life in the worst trials.
3. We must overflow with gratitude.
A kind counsel for the best life is to ‘be overflowing with gratitude’. 'Let it overflow' (perisshuontes) here literally means 'the river flows over the embankment'; This is the current show. This means that gratitude should have existed in the past, and it should be in the future, but it should always be the practice of the present. And if you are thankful for this, don't be stingy, don't lack, don't force yourself to do it reluctantly, be happy and have fun, and do it with all your heart and sincerity.
Colossae was a small city as a Roman colony. It was once a prosperous city with a dense population and abundant wealth. However, at that time Colossae was reduced to an economically insignificant city due to changes in trade routes. Moreover, even the church life was in a chaotic situation due to the penetration of heresy. Nevertheless, the Apostle Paul exhorted us to overflow with thanksgiving. It is because I have learned that overflowing with gratitude is the way to live the best life.
This is the story of a young man named James Beck (29 years old, at the time of the accident on October 31, 2000) who miraculously saved his life from a blown up plane. A Singapore airliner was blown up on the runway as it was about to take off from Taipei Taiwan's Taipei Airport for Los Angeles. In the accident, 81 people were killed and 70 people were injured. When asked how he felt about overcoming the hurdle of death, Saint James Beck answered: “I am always thankful to God, I always believe that I am in God’s hands, and I do not think that God loves me especially because he saved my life. Among the 81 who died, there must have been some whom God loved more than me. Even if I had been killed on that plane, I would have been grateful in the midst of that misfortune, and my wife and family would have been too, because all human happiness and unhappiness is God's will, so I only thank God when it was smooth and life was saved. I think it is too selfish to live with this.”
“Therefore, since you have received Jesus Christ as Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, standing firm in the faith as you were taught” (Colossians 2:6-7).
The best life is not only to accept Jesus Christ as Lord, but to live in Him. It has three characteristics as living a life in union with the Lord.
Those who want to live the best life must have their roots deeply rooted in the Lord. And those who want to live their best life must stand firm in their faith. Not only that, but anyone who wants to live the best life should be overflowing with gratitude.
Dear brothers and sisters, I earnestly pray in the name of the Lord that you will become a model of happiness that glorifies God and impresses people by making the best life yours. Amen!
“Only for the Glory of God”