Basis of what? In accounting terms, it could be on a cash basis or a basis point equal to .01%. However, there are other ways the word basis can be used. How do you live your life? Is it on the basis of selfishness or on hope for the future? I watched my oldest grandson play on a baseball team that won their tournament. Now, if I had decided that is was too hot, too rainy, too far of a drive to go, then I would have missed an awesome series of wins. If I had decided to be selfish and not go for any excuse, then it would have been my failure. Instead, I went to watch their team win 6 games in a role to take the title. I went on hope regardless of the outcome as I looked with excitement to a future star.
In my previous message, I wrote about a long trip to perform a funeral for a dear friend who had requested I be present a year earlier. That funeral was 3 years ago. I asked myself what next then as I do today. What’s next for me? We can live our lives on the basis of excuses why we can not do a task or we can live our lives on the basis of hope. Our choice. One leads to failure and the other to victory.
In Romans 8:12-25, we have a choice to consider. If we live our lives on the basis of selfishness then our selfish action will lead us to death. The opposite is to live our lives on the basis of hope. Yes, there will be pain when we take action driven by hope but will it be worth it in the long haul? As the author of Romans concludes in this passage, if we see, it is not hope. Instead we hope for what we don’t see and wait with patience for the reveal. Likewise, if we expect a seed to grow in a weed patch or unfertile soil, then we are living our lives according to deception. We should know that the great deceiver uses selfishness, doubt, fear, laziness, etc. as an attempt to keep us following him to the grave. However, in Matthew 13:38, we learn that we are good seeds as followers of the kingdom that is everlasting and gives us life beyond the grave. Will we be bad seeds who live on the basis of selfishness or good seeds who live on the basis of hope for the future? Please choose wisely and I hope to see you in the field of dreams too.
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