Dying Daily

"I die every day!" -The Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 15:31

"No man would find it difficult to die who died every day. He would have practiced it so often, that he would only have to die but once more; like the singer who has been through his rehearsals, and is perfect in his part, and has but to pour forth the notes once for all, and have done. Happy are they who every morning go down to Jordan's brink, and wade into the stream in fellowship with Christ, dying in the Lord's death, being crucified on his cross, and raised in his resurrection. Then, when they shall climb their Pisgah, they shall behold nothing but what has been long familiar to them, as they have studied the map of death... God teach us this art, and he shall have the glory of it." -- C.H. Spurgeon

O God,
who for our redemption
gave your only-begotten Son
to the death of the cross,
and by his glorious resurrection
delivered us from the power of our enemy:

Grant us so to die daily to sin,
that we may evermore live with him
in the joy of his resurrection;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

--The Book of Common Prayer

Imagine: More Heavenly-Minded = More Earthly Good

In his memorable song, "Imagine," John Lennon seems to be asserting that Christians are so heavenly-minded, we're no earthly good. For Lennon, the only way to make a difference on earth is to live as if today is all there is.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

The Bible proclaims precisely the opposite. It's only when our hearts our captivated by the reality of a new world that we can live a radically selfless & sacrificial life in this world. Imagine: if today is all there is, if this life is all you've got, why in the world would you give yourself away to serve someone else?

The truth is, it's the most heavenly-minded people who are the most earthly good.

Do you want to live an unusually remarkable life here, for the glory of Jesus Christ? Then think often of heaven!

"Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:11-13).