Living in Christ

If in a survey people were asked to say in all honesty what they thought was the most important thing in their lives or to put it in a more colloquial phrase “what gets them out of bed in the morning” by completing the sentence :

“For me to live is …..”.

I am sure there would be wide variety of answers. Fairly high up I think would be “family”, “education”, “wealth”, “work”, “happiness”. Some may have a sport like “football” or for a few really fit people of Olympic standard “athletics”.

What would be your answer?

For many sadly, there would be difficulty in even completing the sentence for health issues (physical and mental) combined with the pressures of life or the loss of a loved one lead to depression and a feeling that life some days is not worth living. For others the life drive is achieved through substances which take away pain or compromise life.

For Martyn Langlois having lost his dear wife Gill so suddenly, he has lived his life to express his Christian faith in the great work of “Compassion” and build a lasting memorial to his wife. Gill was was a teacher at Amherst school and loved children. As reported in the press yesterday Martyn has worked tirelessly to raise funds to build a school in Africa in her memory.

Even in loss Martyn found a worthwhile driving purpose centred on his Christian faith and love for Gill.

The apostle Paul had a passion and desire not just in life, he completed the sentence “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain”. We will be exploring what that means this morning but living for Christ is something that is being lived out for today by people like Martyn. Just as Gill died “in Christ” and as she is with Him she also has left a legacy and a testimony for others to share and benefit from. That’s living and dying “In Christ”.

Yours in Christ,

John