“For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”–1 Corinthians 15:9-11

We make mistakes, and participate in ungodly activities. We fall into sin, veer away from God’s path, and sometimes forget God’s commands. Yet God has provided His undeserved favor for us. He offers us grace even when we sin.

Some people enter Christianity thinking it’s a “cure-all” for temptation and sin, but the truth is that once someone is saved, the devil targets them even more with temptation! But God has provided His grace to help us when we fall, to give us a clean start.

Imagine grace this way: each morning we start our day with a clean slate. We haven’t sinned, strayed from God, or gotten into any trouble yet. But each time we do sin, our slate is dirtied. A little attitude here, some rebellion there, and our slate is soon covered in ugly marks. Yet when we repent of our sin, God’s grace comes down like a magic eraser and wipes our slate perfectly clean. He offers us forgiveness and a fresh start despite our failures.

No matter how many times you fall away from God, He will always forgive you. God doesn’t want you to live in sin, so He offers His grace to give you a clean start each time you turn to Him. What a great attribute of God for which you should be thankful.

If it were only up to you to keep a “clean slate,” how would your slate look? None of us are perfect; we all fail to always live like Christ. Yet God extends His grace to us and offers us another chance to live for Him each time we repent of our sin.

Take time right now to thank God for His grace. If you need your slate cleaned, repent of your sin and seek God’s grace. Don’t ever take for granted the fact that God gives you a new start whenever you need it.(Paul Chappell)

D. L.Moody said, “What makes Heaven attractive for us?”, then he added:

It won’t be the pearly gates!

It won’t be the streets paved with transparent gold!

These would not satisfy us! If these were all — we would not want to stay in Heaven forever.

I heard the other day, of a little girl whose mother was very sick. While she was sick, one of the neighbors took the child away to stay with her, until the mother would be well again. But instead of getting better — the mother died! They thought it best, that they should not tell the child, nor take her home until the funeral was all over.

So a while afterward, they brought the little girl home. First she went into the sitting-room to find her mother; then she went into the parlor; and then she went from one end of the house to the other — and could not find her mother. At last she said, “Where is my mamma?” And when they told her that her mamma had died, the little girl wanted to go back to the neighbor’s house again. Home had lost its attractions to her — since her mother was no longer there!

Just so — it is not the streets of gold and the pearly gates that are going to make Heaven attractive. It is the being with Jesus, our beloved Redeemer!

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.“–John 14:3
“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:“– Phil. 1:23
“.…so shall we ever be with the Lord.”–1 Thess. 4:17

The body is a constant reminder that I am weak and limited. Regardless of how well I care for my body, age and other things take their toll– and it is different for everybody. Some are born with birth defects that limit what they are able to do. Others develop problems that keeps them from certain things. The bottom line is that we each have to do what we can with what we’ve got. If you can’t do what others can do, or what you used to do, or what you want to do, that doesn’t mean you are inferior. God expects us to do the best we can with what we have and that’s all we should expect from ourselves. We shouldn’t feel guilty because we can’t do something. Keeping this in mind not only puts us at peace with ourselves, it also helps us to not be so judgmental of others. It might appear that they are doing less than they should or could, but they might be doing much more than we would were we in their situation. Since you don’t have all the facts, don’t judge them for not living up to your expectations. And don’t get down on yourself because you can’t reach your self-imposed expectations— God doesn’t expect it and neither should you. Now if I can just practice what I preach!

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”— Phil. 1:21.

How close life and death are! In this verse there is only a comma between them, and every one of us stands where that comma stands, between life and death. Life is the vestibule of death, and death is close on the heels of life. The systole and diastole; the throb and beat of the pulse; the swing of the pendulum this way or that!

Paul is enamoured with the joys of life. He was a toiler and a traveller, and lived amid the busy throng that jostled him in the streets. The philosopher, as he passed, carrying his scrolls of learning, said: “To me to live is knowledge”; the soldier, passing, looked with contempt on the man of letters, and said: “To me to live is fame”; the merchant in passing, said, with pride: “To me to live is riches”; the toiling masses passed by, saying: “To us to live is toil and trouble.” Amid all these, the Apostle strikes in with no bated breath, saying joyously: “To me to live is neither wealth, nor labour, nor fame, nor glory, but Christ.”—the origin of his life.

If we would become partakers of the Divine Nature, we also must have such a definite experience. We can trace our natural life back to our parents, and our spiritual life must begin in the hour when, in early childhood, or later, we are made partakers of the Nature of the Risen Saviour (John 1:12-13; 2Pe 1:4).

Christ must be the model of our life. Every man works to a model. Consciously or not, we are always imitating somebody, and every true follower of Christ seeks to approximate to the measuring of the stature of our Lord–“Beholding, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory.”

Christ must be the aim of life. That His will may be done on earth as in heaven; that others may know and love and serve Him as we do; that He may be the crowned King of men–that must be our purpose and aim. External things have no power over the one who can say: “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”; then we can triumph over Death itself, and say: “To die is gain.”

The mountain peaks of the Christ-life that we would live call to us, but they often seem too steep and high for us to reach, but Thou knowest and hast an infinite compassion for Thy children. Fulfil in us the good pleasure of Thy will, and realise in us the ideals Thou hast taught us to cherish. AMEN. –F B Meyer

After hearing my youngest son explain why he went into the army and law enforcement afterwards, this story from Senior Living echoes something I’ve heard before. As Christians we need to give serious thought as to how we will spend our lives, lest they be wasted.

The chaplain walked in and saw the soldier lying on the bed. The news was bad. His leg had been terribly injured and had to be amputated. Now, it was up to the chaplain to break the news to the wounded soldier.

“Son,” the chaplain spoke as the drowsy soldier opened his eyes, “you’ve lost your leg in a great cause. You’ll never walk again. I’m sorry.”

The soldier’s parched lips opened as he struggled to make the words come out, “I didn’t lose my leg. I gave it.”

When we enter eternity, we’ll either be known as people who lost our lives, or gave them for a greater cause. And the key factor in how we’ll be remembered isn’t necessarily our means of departure (we don’t have to be martyred to give our lives), but it’s how we live every day.

If you want to give your life to a greater cause – live for that cause right now. And of course, there’s no greater cause, nor a greater King, than Jesus Christ. Live daily for Him and give your life for the sake of His Kingdom!

Pray and ask God to help you live for Christ daily and give your life for the sake of the gospel.