Who do you live for?

Emily Altenburg is a first year graduate of S.O.W.E.R.S. and is originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Take a second to think about the life you live
Do you go through the motions?
Do you take more than you give?
Take a minute to think about the words you say
Do you take this life for granted,
in any kind of way?
Do you care about the things you do?
He wasn’t just a someone
He led a perfect life
He only did the things he did to simply save your life.
He wasn’t just an average man
He healed the sick and made the blind to see
He always did his Father’s will.
He died for you and me.
Do you realize someone died for you?
Do you know how much it cost him,
to pay the perfect price?
Take a lifetime to thank him for his sacrifice
Take awhile to read about your brother
The scriptures testify of him
They show you what to do
Do you love the way he showed you?
Your life was worth his to Him.
So who do you live for?

        If a young man jumped in front of a bullet for you, knowing that saving you would cost him his life, would you care? Would you live the rest of your life like that never happened? How would you thank him? Jesus Christ did so much more than “jump in front of a bullet” for us. Most people thank him by simply attending Church every Sunday, trying to be nice to others, trying not to cuss, or any combination of these. Even though these actions are good and definitely a place to start, there is more to thanking him than that. We can do so much more to truly live for him each and every day. After all, he gave everything for EACH OF US.

      He died for me. I have finally come to realize this over the past few months here at S.O.W.E.R.S. I used to think that because I went to fellowship, and loved people, and read the Bible every once in awhile, that I was doing what I was called to do. Little did I know, there is much more to my reasonable service. As I am going through this program I am learning what it means to truly be a servant and to freely give because I have freely received. I have come to the conclusion that all of the small things we can do to manifest this more than abundant life are encompassed in one big action: love. Love truly is “the thing” (as Doug has always said since the first Wednesday night teaching he shared with us). Everything we do, we are supposed to do in love. We are to walk in love with everyone around us, at all times, no matter what. We are to love the people who hurt us, to love with patience, and to love without giving up. This is the standard of love that God has bestowed upon us. And what did we do to earn His love? Nothing. That is how magnificent our God is! The world can only begin to know His love through our love towards them. It is through love that we know God. The more we learn to love, the more we know God.

        We may have head knowledge of God from His Word but without the love, born of a relationship with Him, we do not perceive God, nor are we acquainted with Him. Without being motivated by love ourselves, we will not understand the power of love that motivates God to do the things He does. Without a practical knowledge of love, we will not understand impractical things that are done in love. Why would God give His only begotten son for mankind who is dead in trespasses and sins? Why would Jesus Christ go through torture and death when he had 72,000 angels available to rescue him? Why does God continue to give His spirit to men and women when He knows they will ignore it or misuse it for the most part? By natural-man wisdom, these are entirely impractical. But it is because of God and Jesus Christ’s love that they did these. Unless we walk in love ourselves and know first-hand the motivating power of love, we will not know God. God’s love is so big and unchanging that whether we love God or not, God is love. Nothing we do poorly or do well, changes God Who remains pure love at all times. When we make a move toward love, we make a move toward God.

    It’s this amazing love of God that changes lives.



    The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ was God’s Word revealed, and he’s the one who chose to lay down his perfectly sinless life as the full payment for every sin we’ve ever committed or ever will commit. It’s only through believing on him, that God is able to bring us back into the love relationship that we were always meant to have with Him from the beginning. It’s only through reckoning the old man dead, that we are able to live again through the Christ who lives in us. We can live like he did and love like he did because God Himself has shed His love into our hearts through the gift of holy spirit. We get the awesome privilege of spending the rest of our lives in relationship with the Creator of the Universe, getting to know Love.

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Ephesians 5:1,2