Live for God

When my mother recently went home to be with Jesus, I wanted her treasured Bible.  So every morning when I have my devotions, I read her Bible.  It is weathered and well used and many verses are underlined throughout, verses that meant something significant to her.  One morning I was looking something up, and I found the following underlined verse: 

Php 3:13    Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 

Underneath this verse, my mother had written, "Live for God."  This meant a great deal to me because after she died, I felt as if my world had caved in, and I had lost my most treasured friend and dearest mother in the world.  I wondered how I was going to get through life without her, and bear the pain of losing her.  Since she was so uplifting and so encouraging throughout my life, many times in those first few weeks, in my mind I could still hear her encouraging me, and this is one of the strongest impressions I had right after she died. I was impressed to go on and live for Jesus, to not spend more time in sorrow than I would spend living for Him; the time is short before Jesus returns, and there is much work to be done.    

While this may sound cut and dried, and many will say that when you lose a dear loved one, that you have to take the time to grieve, we need to also shift our focus to what lies ahead.  I realized how crucial it is to fulfil the calling God has placed on my life, and to continue to do so without delay.  None of us knows the day or the hour of His soon return, and we do not know how much time we have.  It also helped me a great deal to know that my mother is now with Jesus, and that she is well taken care of, and she is with my dad and her family who also love Jesus.  She has finished her course, but mine is still to be completed. 

While I was thinking about the importance of moving on, and leaving behind what is past, I also thought about the cost of following Jesus. 

Luk 9:23    And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luk 9:24    For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 

My pilgrimage must go on, and this does not change.  Opportunities to share our faith, and present the only way to freedom from sin through the cross of Christ, are all around us every day.  I can truly say that in the days following my mother's passing, the opportunities to witness to others seemed to abound.  As I shared about my mother's passing, and I continue to, many others shared their stories of grief with me. I was able to give them hope and comfort by listening, sharing and then praying for them.  It has brought me great comfort to know that my mother's Godly life continues to bear fruit for Jesus through me and the rest of her children, and no doubt through many others who knew her.  I know that her many years of faithful prayers for me and the rest of her family are following her. 

So today, for all who are reading, if you are suffering a great loss as I have, or suffering in any other way, do not stay in the past and dwell there, move forward, and in every way possible, live for Jesus.  For this is what will count throughout eternity.