Alive to Christ

May 6

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ," Philippians 3:7-8

Jesus tells us that it's not possible to serve both God and mammon (money, power, the world system), but many people try.

Jesus made it clear that there is a distinct choice that must be made; every believer must turn from the world and its allurements in order to fully embrace the salvation package of the Kingdom of Christ.

The Lord said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." Matthew 6:19-24

Moses had to choose between the two masters. In Hebrews 11:24-25, Paul briefly reiterates the story told to us in the Old Testament, "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin."

And Jesus, Himself demonstrated for us that everyone must choose between the two masters who vie for a man’s loyalty and praise: God who is worthy of all our praise and devotion, and the enemy of our souls who would delude us into believing his lie that the treasures of earth hold value.

In Matthew 4:8-10 we see satan’s scheme to entice Jesus to avoid the cross yet secure men to Himself. Here the deceiver plots to undo God’s plan of salvation which was laid “from the foundation of the earth,” Revelation 13:8.

"The devil took Him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”

If Moses, and even Jesus Himself, among many other godly men, had to decide between serving God and serving self in all its humanly gratifying forms, how can we think that we might not have to face and overcome the same temptations in our own lives? How can we imagine that we may not also have to “die to ourselves daily, that we may be fully alive to Christ?” I Corinthians 15:31.