With Me....Without Me.....

My old identity has been co-crucified with Messiah and no longer lives; for the nails of his cross crucified me with him. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, and dispenses his life into mine! Galatians 2:20 TPT

“Your life expectancy is here. With me, it’s here. Without me, it’s here.” (Tom Cruise to Cameron Diaz in the film “Knight and Day”, 2010, 20th Century Fox)

Life is good, when we are on the right track, things are going really well when we are focused, grounded, centered on the One who created us. Life is bad, very bad, when we are not. When we choose to go our own way. When we get to the fork in the road, and we choose to walk the way we are pulled by our human nature rather than follow Christ in the way He intends. Consider this scene from the film, “Knight and Day” starring Tom Cruise as 'Roy' and Cameron Diaz as 'June'. As the events begin to unfold and at the heart of the entire experience for June, is her struggle with whether or not she can trust Roy. Is he really trying to protect her, or is he putting her life in danger? How can she know for sure that she can trust him? He spells it out for her, you are better off by choosing to stay with me. A or B. Choose. With me. Without me. What’s it gonna be?

Jesus has an amazing life experience for you, but you must choose it. It is easy to choose our own way. It is easy to go with what we can see right in front of us. And it is easy to act without giving much thought to the consequences. We are a selfish people, and in this day and age it is clear what we prefer. I know I am not alone in this, but I struggle daily to avoid the information coming at me from social media and our news resources both written and online, as it is predominantly negative. It is all about who can get the story out first and get the most attention for it. They claim to be publishing these reports to serve the public’s best interests, but it is not truth. It is one side’s version of truth that fits their own personal agenda. Get the story out and focus the spotlight on this person no matter the cost. One group after another, protesting and making their statements for change, doing everything they can to acquire as many followers as possible. I don’t think we realize when we go to like/comment/share something we have seen come across our social media without researching its validity first, we are essentially saying we trust that source to be truth. If you cannot say with 100% certainty that a source is truth, then why on earth are you latching on to it and sharing it?

When we choose Christ, we choose truth. Our responsibility in this life as we walk with Christ, is to be an example to others in grace, love and truth. The battle between our human nature and our spiritual nature is fierce and rages on day after day. Our speech and actions tell a story to the world of Who we are with. Whether we realize it or not, our lives are telling a story to those around us who are seeking something more. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to speak and act in a way that first reflects Christ. When we stumble and realize we have acted out of selfishness, we need to find our way to repentance and seek accountability. We cannot do this alone, we should not. We need Jesus, we need each other, and we need to trust His Word. When we choose each day to be with Him, then He will protect us and provide for us and the purpose He has for our lives. It’s my aim every single day to trust Him more, to let go of my tight grip on the things I think I must have control of. I don’t have that control, but He allows me to wrestle with that to bring me closer to Him.

This is where faith is tested and trust is strengthened.

So what’s your choice? With Him? Or Without Him?