Living Life for Christ Alone

I want to serve Jesus. This desire has been mine since my youth.  Maybe this is just a millennial thing (or maybe it's not), but we millennials want to be passionate about something and to go big or go home. We want to change the world. I took that millennial thing and went "Christian" with it.  I wanted to be a missionary and make a huge impact somewhere so that I could come home and talk about it.  I wanted to leave a legacy that no one would miss.  I wanted to be remembered as someone who made a difference. I wanted to feel like I was accomplishing something important for Jesus.  I often pictured showing up before that great throne one day with much luscious, spiritual fruit to offer Christ to show for how my life was spent on this earth.  I feared not having enough to give Him.  But marriage and motherhood has put huge cracks in this dream. They caused me to pause and have to rethink what is actually valuable.  What do I mean by that? Were tho...

This year I started using a Bible in the year plan. It's been interesting to me which books they give you to read first. Part of the first several days was the book of Philippians... As I was reading in chapter 1, several phrases challenged me. I'd like to pass this challenge on to you. "For me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better. I'm torn between two desires; I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live." -Philippians 1:21-24 I pulled out my notebook and started to spill the thoughts that were coming to mind, which I will write below. (In italics.) Do I have such a heavenly mindset? 

Today I'd like to share with you a secret. It's a secret that I know could change your life if you let it... I happened to be reading in Revelation on this one particular morning. It's a book that gets me excited, perplexed, and causes me to have a sense of awe all at once... Maybe its because it talks about heavenly things I can't imagine. Maybe its because it talks about things that will happen that I can't fully understand. Or perhaps its because there is so much promise of hope in it that gets my mind off of the here and now.