What Am I Doing With My Life?

God has given to His children eternal life and in Philippians we have been instructed, "to work out our salvation with fear and trembling." In Ephesians 5:1-2 we are given instructions how to work out the salvation that the Lord has graciously given to us.

In verse 1 of Ephesians 5 we have these instructions, "Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children." We need to take a very close look at this verse.

Therefore: sends us back to chapter 4:32, since we have been
forgiven by Christ we should imitate the Father.

Be: this verb means "to become" and to do it now and to be
consistently imitating the Father.

Imitators: mimic; One commentator states that, "What we
deeply admire we shall be prone to mimic." If we
have strong love and respect for the Lord we will
mimic the Father.

Of God, as beloved children. God loves us so much and has
proven this in sending His Son Jesus to die for our sins
and to raise Him from the dead giving us victory over sin
and death in our lives. Then He graciously provides for us
each day of our lives we should have a strong desire
to mimic our heavenly Father.

In verse 2 of Ephesians 5 we read, "And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

And walk: to conduct one's life and do it now

In love: the motive in our lives for what we do should
be our love for the Lord since He has poured
His love in us by His Holy Spirit, Romans 5:5

As Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. The love of
Christ in us should cause us to give ourselves for the
spiritual good of others.

A fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. I must ask myself,
"Is my life a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God?"

How is it possible for me to conduct my life in such a fashion? The answer comes from Galatians 5:16, "By the Spirit walk and you will not gratify the flesh."

By the Spirit: the Holy Spirit living in me should direct me in
all I think, and all I say and all I do.

Walk: my life is conducted and directed by the Holy Spirit

And you will not gratify the flesh

Gratify actually means "to bring to completion"

Not is a double negative in the Greek which is proper
and means it is emphatic.

When combining the verb and the negative the phrase translates,
"When the flesh tempts me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I
may not bring to completion the temptation by the flesh".

As I evaluate the life the Lord has given to me, does it compare to the instructions in theses passages of Scripture? To me I must focus on the verse in Galatians. Am I prone to be guided and influenced by my flesh and its desires or by the Holy Spirit? May the Lord grant to each of us the wisdom and honesty to discern what we are really doing with our lives.