More to this Life than Living and Dying

This past week, my wife gave birth to our 3rd daughter, Ella. She is beautiful and everything that I could ever ask for.

Looking at Ella and the new life that she is, you can often get caught up in the moment and think – this is what life is about. She is so precious, innocent, delicate and a blessing from God – nothing else matters. However, eventually you grow up and you start going through the motions of life until you die – right?!? You go to school, hang out with your family and friends, go to college, get married, have kids of your own, help them through life and die. That’s how life is suppose to go, right?

No, there is more to this life than just living and dying – there is more to this life than just going through the motions – and as we wrap up our series on this, we are going to talk about how you can live your life more effective by doing 3 simple things.

The 1st thing you need to do is to make the Right choices
Sure, easy to say – make the right choice. But how do I know what is the right choice?

Read James 1:5 & 2 Timothy 2:22

There are 2 things here:
Ask God for wisdom and hw will give it to you
Pursue what is right & stay away from youthful lusts
· It says to pursue faith, love and peace
· Everything that we do should follow this

To make the right choices you have got to pursue faith, love, and peace. It is hard to stay away from youthful lusts – they all seem fun and “youthful”, but they lead to destruction.

The last thing in mentions in the 2 Timothy scripture is to enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. This leads perfectly into the 2nd

In order to live your life more effectively, you need to surround yourself with the Right friends

Read Proverbs 13:20

Who are wise people? People who make right choices
What are right choices? People who choose faith, love and peace
What friends are you surrounding yourself with?

It is as simple as that folks. Are your friends pursuing the faith, love and peace that is found in Christ alone?

We have got to be surrounding ourselves with people who are following Christ.
Let me just add – there are “Christian” people who have no intention on following and pursuing Christ. Make sure your friends are those who pursue Christ; who pursue faith, love and peace. You will be better off because of it.

Lastly, we need to make sure we are following the Right path
How do we know what the right path is?

Romans 12:2 – “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” (NLT)

The right path is not copying what the world is doing – it is letting God transform you into a new person!That is what happens when we follow God – we become transformed into a new person!

When you allow God to work in your life – to transform your life – the right path is easy to know because you will be making the right choices and surrounding yourself with the right friends.

To be honest, most of us know now what the right path is. However, it is so hard to follow it because of all the things we “won’t be able to do”. However, don’t look at it through those lenses. Look at it as all that you will be able to gain. All the peace and certainty you will have in your heart knowing that you are doing what God designed you to do. By that I mean, God has a unique plan for all of your lives. Some it is to be an architect, others a movie star, some a stay at home mom, others an entrepreneur. Just because you are a “Christian” doesn’t mean you are going to be a missionary in Africa – although it might. Whatever God’s plan for you is, you can reach it by following the right path.

Challenge

So, to sum up – I want to challenge you:
What choices are you making?
What friends are you surrounding yourself with?
What path are you headed down?

There is more to this life than where you are now. You can become transformed in God.

So, to make better choices, to surround yourself with better friends and to go down the better path all starts with following Christ.

Where are you with Christ? What’s preventing you from following him? Why wouldn’t you follow him?

Know this - Philippians 4:13 – “For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.”

Nothing is too hard for you as long as you are with Christ! You can do this!