The Life I Live

“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

and He died for all, that

those who live should live no longer

for themselves, but for Him

who died for them and rose again.”

II Corinthians 5:14-15, NKJ

~We did a lot of shopping in California…San Francisco’s China Town and Fisherman’s Wharf. San Diego’s Old Town and bay shops. LA’s downtown market.


We were told to try to pack for the trip in a couple carry-ons, both to cut costs on the flights and to make sure we could fit everyone’s bags into the vehicles we drove. In order to help for the flight out to California, our leaders told us that it would be cold in SF, but we’d go shopping and could buy nice jackets inexpensively once we got there. We flew into SF on a Thursday, and due to various reasons, we didn’t do the promised shopping until Tuesday! We froze the whole weekend, and believe me, as soon as I bought my hoodie, I put it on and it did not leave me for a good long while!

~I belong to Someone! I am redeemed—bought—by Christ’s precious blood. And because I am bought, I am not my own. And because I am not my own, my time is not my own. My energy is not my own. My money is not my own. My life is not my own. “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4)


My desire, rather than to love myself, will be to love God and love others. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24)


I am not here to serve myself, or to use my time, energy or money selfishly on myself. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

I, surprisingly, got a lot of use out of my hoodie in California. San Francisco’s cold seemed to follow us for awhile! God doesn’t need me like that, but He does ask that once I become His, I submit myself to His service. As Milton Vincent says in The Gospel Primer, “Compared to greater endeavors, self-love is mundane and tiresome. Consequently, the more thoroughly I can be done with such tedium, the freer my soul will be to soar at its God-intended heights.” Let’s be done with lesser things!