The Daily Word of Righteousness

Security; Pleasure; Achievement, continued

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

Men with drive and imagination set out to do something in the world. When they become Christians they set out to do something "for Christ."

Sometimes God allows energetic and able Christian men and women to perform valuable works of construction and service in the world.

But God's servants always are more important to Him than are their works. Sooner or later the third great issue is raised: "If I remove all of your accomplishments from you, are you content to allow the possession of Christ to be your only achievement in life?"

To inform a human being who possesses drive and purpose that his achievement in life is to be Christ alone, that he will not be allowed to build a monument to commemorate his walk on the earth, is to sound the death knell. Hopes of glory fade. The cross is faced. The futility of the gable of Herod's Temple is pondered.

Christ alone is our Achievement. He Himself is our Goal, our Accomplishment. He is All in all to us. To gain Him is our supreme objective.

And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. (Numbers 18:20)

So it is true of every member of the Body of Christ, of God's royal priesthood.

The Apostle Paul was an individual of the greatest drive and purpose. He was headed for the top in the religious world.

Six years before his martyrdom, while confined in the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, he wrote:

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3:8)

All those years of ministry and Paul still was striving to win Christ.

If the only achievement of our life is gaining Christ, is that enough for us?

Highly placed angels of ancient origin fell from God's Presence, perhaps because of problems with security, pleasure, and achievement. To obey and worship God the Father was not sufficient for them. They were disobedient and proud.

God has determined that both Heaven and earth will be filled with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ Himself, and that which proceeds from Him, will be the security, the pleasure, and the achievement of every saved creature. Paradise will be restored and held by appreciative, capable saints.

The Christian saints, the members of the Body of Christ, are the first to place the Lord Jesus Christ in the center of all areas of life.

The Divine principle operates: that which we give to God will be blessed and given back to us as our eternal possession, now multiplied many times in glory. This is true of our security, our pleasure, and our achievement.

Those who choose to overcome the world through the grace of Christ in each of these three areas, making Christ the Center of all aspects of personality and behavior, will be seated with Christ on His throne.

The throne of Christ is the origin of all security, all pleasure, all achievement.

Each soldier of Christ's army who allows Christ to be his security, his pleasure, and his achievement, will touch the world today as it has never been touched in all previous history. To that man or woman will be given the fullness of the glory of the Kingdom of God throughout the ages to come. (from Kingdom Concepts)