Title: Let's live well / Ezekiel 18:21-24
Let's live well
Ezekiel 18:21-24, 1 Thessalonians 3:8-10
It is a basic need for a person to live well. Everyone wants to live well. However, many futurists say that the future society will lead a convenient life with the development of science and technology, but the quality of life will not improve. Living a convenient life does not mean living well. All of the policies of the late President Park Chung-hee were to live well. “We can live well too” and “Live well” were the slogans at the time. However, quality of life is not proportional to economic strength or skills.
Everyone in the world wants to live well, but they don't know how to live well. There are ways to live conveniently in the world, but there is no way to live well. The more we have, the less we have, so the things of the world cannot make us prosper. After you have it, you can see many people who are worse off than before. On the other hand, it is common to see people who lose everything they have and live better than before. In order to live well, Peter gave up everything and followed the Lord. Paul regarded everything as excrement in order to live well. The disciples of the Lord and all the Christians who followed the Lord did not take it in order to live well, but abandoned it. If you give up, you will get it. It only happens when you give up. This is the secret to living well.
1. To live in the spirit is to live well.
Man was originally created as a spiritual being. When God created man, he made man out of dust and breathed life into his nostrils to become a living soul. Man is a living spirit. Man is not a dead spirit. Man is not a living flesh. Of course, man is not even dead flesh. Therefore, a man is a true man when he is a living spirit. Since man is a living spirit, he must live a spiritual life to be satisfied and his worth is revealed. When we live in the spirit, we live well.
The spirit was created by the breath of God. In other words, the Spirit is the breath of God. Because God breathed in us, we must live with God's breath every day. Only then can human beings have satisfaction and joy and live well. Those who pray feel the breath of God. Those who sing praises feel the breath of God. Those who read the Bible feel the breath of God. Because the breath of God is present in it.
All scriptures are inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16). Being inspired by God means that God has breathed it. God breathed breath into the same writing as any other book, so that it became the Word of God and inspired him. You are the same person as the people of the world, but when God's breath is with you, you become a person of spirit. It is the same thing as the things of the world, but when the breath of God is with us, it becomes a thing of the spirit. When God's breath is with us, it becomes God's, and it becomes spiritual and holy. However, if the breath of God is not with us, things become things of the world, things become flesh, and things change into common things.
Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, brethren, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship.” When our body becomes a living sacrifice, it becomes spiritual worship. All of our lives should be lived in a way that becomes spiritual worship. What we eat, what we wear, what we work, and what we study must all be spiritual. That is why the Bible says, “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless” (John 6:63). It is always the Spirit that saves. Flesh is, in fact, useless. Nevertheless, people live for the useless flesh. Living for useless things is not living well. If it is the spirit that gives life, the flesh kills. When the flesh is useless, the spirit is beneficial. If you live for a good spirit, you will live well.
2. Live to die well.
A person cannot live well if he is only interested in living. Paradoxically, you have to be interested in dying in order to live well. A person must die well to live well. A person is judged after death, not while he is alive. It is said that the collections of the Louvre Museum in France are only evaluated after the artist's death. True art is also evaluated after death.
Our example Jesus lived a life that presupposed death. Although he was originally with God, he became a man and became obedient to death on the cross. If Jesus had come to this earth to live, he would not have been our Savior. So is our life. If you live to live, you become a life far from salvation. If you live to die, you become a life of salvation. Our life cannot be a life of service if we live to live. If you live to die, you become a life of service.
Ezekiel 18:21-22 says, “But if the wicked turn from all the sins he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do the law and righteousness, he will surely live and not die. None of their sins will be remembered; they will live because of the righteousness that they have committed.” If a person lives in righteousness, he does not die. Because life is in God. King Cradle wore the most luxurious clothes, ate delicious food, and lived in the largest house. But after he died, his body was thrown into the field. Jezebel also lived with authority, but after her death the dogs ate her body.
Paul was always dying. So he said to himself, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Paul's life was dignified because it was a life that could die. He boldly says, “As those who die, behold, we live” (2 Corinthians 6:9). What a beautiful life this is. Aren't you envious of this kind of life? To live such a wonderful life, you must die every day and be able to die easily.
Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Now that I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Paul had already died on the cross. And what he lived was not what he lived, but what Christ lived in him. This life is lived but it is a dead life, and it is a dead life but a living life.
3. Live for the Lord.
The New Testament text says, “Therefore, if ye stand fast in the Lord, we shall now live” (1 Thessalonians 3:8). Stand firm in the Lord and live. If you live for the Lord, you will live well. If you live for the Lord, you will live even if you die. The ultimate value of those who believe in Jesus is a life for the Lord. The ultimate meaning of life for those who believe in Jesus is to live for Him. Living for the Lord is rewarding every day. Joy is here. If you live for the Lord, you live well.
Paul says in Romans, “If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (14:8). A Christian is a little Christ. It belongs to Christ. A Christian who belongs to Christ must live for the Lord and die for the Lord. Just as Christ suffered and died, so Christians must suffer and die in the world to prosper. Suffering and death serve as the bonds that unite Christ and the Christian.
Those who live their lives for Christ always praise. “I give all my life to Jesus, who redeemed me, so that I can always be truthful. My Savior Jesus, I will live for my Savior. My joy is limitless. Guide me on my way.” (Hymns 351) Strike. This is a true life and a rewarding life. The life we always live for the Savior is our Christian life. Let's always live happily in this world, live a rewarding life, and live like a Christian. The life we live for the Lord is the life we live in the spirit, and the life we live in order to die well. This is a well-lived life.