(Friday, September 15, 2017)

10:48 AM It’s another gorgeous day here on the farm, though the temps are gradually creeping back up into the mid-80s. It’s hard to believe that we’ve got less than three and a half months left in the year. The semester seems to be flying by. We’re already in Phil. 1:27-30 and I haven’t said a thing about 1:21! People sometimes ask me if I have any routines in my daily schedule, something I do repeatedly, and actually I do. I suppose you could say I repeat Phil. 1:21 almost like a mantra: “For to me to go on living is Christ, and to die is gain.” I’m ashamed to say it, but I don’t always find my identity in Christ. That’s why this verse is so important to me. It’s a reminder that my life with Christ is what really matters. It loosens my grip on all circumstances and props and frees me from all those things I generally rely on or deem important. When I’m unappreciated, my life is Christ. When someone says or writes something nice about me, my life is Christ. This is a verse that will force your values and fears out of the shadows and into the light. I can’t help but think how different my daily life would be without Christ. Without Christ, life is vanity. Without Christ, love erodes. Without Christ, living is a drudgery. Paul, I think, reached the same conclusion. He wrote a verse that is used today in ways he would have never imagined. The thing is, God wants my whole heart. Not just a part. All of it. I can’t, like Ananias and Sapphira, hold something back. Friends, dwell on Christ’s sole sufficiency today. He wants us to experience the “glorious riches” He has planned for us from the beginning of time (Rom. 9:23). Feel old and useless? God’s saving His best for last. He’s got plans for your life that will amaze you.

Today, let’s kick up our heels in the sunshine of Christ’s presence.