"LIFER"

Are you a "LIFER"?

Ga 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

Encarta Definition:
Lifer=somebody serving a life sentence: somebody sentenced to life imprisonment- career member of military: somebody who spends an entire career in one of the armed forces.

You've seen them... People whose lives seem to go through one extreme set of circumstances after another throughout most of their life. How do they do it? How do they, after being knocked down or knocked around, continue to get up, brush off the dirt and put one foot in front of the other knowing that they will eventually go through it all over again?

One truth about being a "LIFER" is that you must "choose" to be one.
Whether good or bad, you make a choice, or a series of choices, that lead to certain consequences; an end result. It is not the fault of another or even that of the mortal enemy of our soul, it is choices we have made along the path of our lives that have lead us where we are. The great thing about life is that we can choose to redirect our path if it has gotten misdirected, right here...right now, and get back to the one God has chosen for us. A simple act of repentance, that is all it will take to change the end result.

You know... circumstances change in a person's life daily. One day we're walking along not a care in the world and all of the sudden the sky falls on us out of nowhere. A death, a life; a marriage or a break-up. You get fired, you get a raise and a promotion; your last child moves out or you find out you can't have children. Life's pendulum swings to both extremes and before it can swing back again, the scenic view of our lives has changed before our very eyes yet again. Change is inevitable, we can flow with it, even if it is something we don't like; or we can resist and make the journey even more painful than it should be. How can we bare up under the strain of inevitable and constant change and continue to make right choices? God has a plan for our life that is bigger than our immediate understanding. The difficulties, struggles, hurts and obstacles to what our perceived plans are, can be used to grow us into God's intended and perfected work.
For those whose circumstances have not deterred them from their ultimate destiny, they have chosen to get back up time after time and continue in the direction their choices have lead them. Something...Someone...has effected them so greatly that they have made the ultimate choice to diligently follow that path no matter the trial. That Something...The work of the Cross!... that Someone...Jesus!...has greatly impacted their life.

Colossians 3:1-4 states, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory."

We choose to live our lives hidden in Christ. Since we have died to self, we look toward our real home knowing that this life is training for it, and, no matter what adversity change brings in this life, we think on our eternal home and how we are being perfected for His glory.

Make a choice to be a "LIFER" here and now for the eternal kingdom of God.