Are You Alive or Just Living?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! This is such a great gift – today! Let’s choose to seize this opportunity and live it fully!

This week's Happy Friday was inspired by the sermon our Pastor, Steve Huskey, preached last Sunday. We are in a sermon series titled, RE: Pete, where we are looking at the life of Peter. The series is based on the principle of looking to people who have accomplished what we wish to accomplish and repeating their steps to repeat their success.

In his sermon, Pastor Steve focused on the word “Live” - at some point you actually have to live out what you learn. You can listen to Pastor Steves message from Sunday, September 8, 2024, by clicking on this link https://www.igotofaith.com/sermons

I am going to tackle this one in two different ways…

Last week's Happy Friday was about how we live – are we living our lives based on virtues and principles or are we living our lives based on opinions and fads. This week's Happy Friday is more foundational; Are you alive or just living? I want to share two great quotes with you:

“It is a shameful thing for the soul to faint while the body still lives.” – Marcus Aurelius 

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou

Are you alive or just living?

There are millions of people walking this earth who have a heartbeat and are breathing. However, they are not actually living this life – they are simply alive. Perhaps it was a failing moment that was only supposed to be a lesson they learn so they could become all that they were created to become but instead they turned it into a life sentence. Fearful of ever having another failing moment, they are alive, but they are not living a life of purpose or striving to pursue their potential. Or perhaps they were told that they, and their hopes, goals, and dreams, were worthless…and they believed these horrific lies. The result is the same; they shrink back from anything other than simply trying to get through each day without any challenge or struggle. The ironic thing is we learn, grow, and become all that we are created to become by going through challenges, struggles, and problems. The failing moments were simply opportunities to learn, grow, and become stronger so that we can fulfill our purposes.

Are you alive or just living?

Please Friend, don’t let your soul faint or bear an untold story inside you. Come alive! Your life has great value, meaning, and purpose! You are not a mistake, and your hopes, goals, and dreams matter…greatly! I am truly sorry if someone has belittled you or your dreams, however I want to remind you, it is your choice as to whether or not you believe them. My Bible tells me that you were created on purpose for a great purpose which God prepared for you before you were ever born. Who will you believe – a person or God? The choice is critical, and the consequences will literally reverberate into eternity. I pray today that every precious soul reading this Happy Friday will choose to come alive and become all they were created to become, fulfilling the purposes that God has for them!

I now want to pivot to the point of Pastor Steve's message – at some point we have to live out what the Bible tells us. Though not a part of Pastor Steve's message, James 2:19 comes to mind right now: 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! Believing in God does not make us different, even the demons believe that. Satan knows God is real. Saying we are Christians – I prefer Disciple – or that we believe in the Bible does not make us different, it is how we live that does.

In the secular realm we would say it this way…

“Knowledge without application is simply knowledge. Knowledge with application is wisdom.” It’s not what we know that makes a difference. It is the things that we do that makes the difference.

Now let me share a few scriptures that Pastor Steve shared on Sunday…

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James 1:25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Luke 11:28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

What would our lives, and the world we live in, look like if we lived what the Bible tells us? What if we didn’t pick and choose the parts of the Bible we wanted to live but rather we sought Jesus daily, asked Him to renew our minds and transform our hearts, and to give us the wisdom, discernment, strength, and courage to live what we know? What if we lived our faith instead of simply professing it? (That one was me speaking to myself!) What if we lived Mark 12:30-31, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”? Let’s find out! Let’s live what we know and, in the process, transform the worlds we live in!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev