A spiritual person puts before himself always the words of the apostle to the Romans: “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord” (Rom 14 : 8).
To live or to die is not the important thing, but to be to the Lord in our life and death.
If we eat, we eat to the Lord to give energy to the body by which we may be able to do what pleases Him, and if we fast, we fast to the Lord so that the spirit may be strengthened and attached to the Lord. So, the energy of the body and the power of the spirit are to the Lord, as the apostle says, “… glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor 6:20).
Likewise, if we speak, we speak to the Lord, and if we keep silent, we keep silent to the Lord.
For Him we speak to testify to the truth, to the faith, and to the kingdom, and to convey His commandments to the people, to comfort and to strengthen them, and to speak words of wisdom that edify; for the Scripture says, “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life.” (Prov 10:11) For Him we keep silent, for “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.” (Prov. 10:19). We speak when God opens our mouths to sing praise to Him (Ps 50), and we keep silent if we fear to do wrong. We say to Him, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Ps 141 : 3).
Whatever work we do, we do it for God, with Him, and through Him.
We work for Him for the kingdom and for the glory of His name, We work with Him in communion with the Holy Spirit, and we work through Him, i.e. by His grace, His power, and His help. We do nothing away from God because we live to Him, not to ourselves or to the world or to wrong aims as some do.
Wrong aims :
Some people live wholly for themselves and in a wrong way.
Such people follow a worldly way and may tread on the others to remove them away. But more strange indeed is that while trying to build themselves they lead themselves to loss and perdition! The Lord says “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Mt 10:39).
The Lord also speaks about self denial and about sacrificing oneself (Mt 16:24; Jn 10:11; 15:13).
The problem of the foolish sick man was that he wanted to enjoy himself with many goods (Lk 12:19), and the rich man in the story of Lazarus the beggar was enjoying himself luxuriously everyday (Lk 16:19). Solomon the wise, likewise, tasted all the pleasures of the world, but he found that all was vanity and grasping for the wind (Eccl 2:11). Such people are selfish, and true is the saying:
Whoever lives only for himself has never lived.
When making priorities, we put God first and the self last, even after the others. Moreover, working for the others and for the self should be within the life for God who is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).
A person may say: I work for my children.
He labors for them and treasures for them an inheritance. Of course caring about one’s children is a holy duty, but it is wrong to focus on them and neglect one’s duties towards the others and towards God. It is wrong to treasure everything to one’s children and neglect God’s share and the share of the poor. That is why Solomon the wise said, “I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fad? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sum. This also is vanity.” (Eccl 2:18,19).
The good which God will count for you is that which you do, not what your children will do.
So, take care for your children and for the others as well. Work for them and also for your community. Love your children and love the poor and the needy, the community, the church, and everybody. But let your love to all be within your love to God.
Let there be no wrong love, away from God’s love, or more than your love to God.
Give all love and all the heart to God, for He says whoever loves father, mother, son or daughter more than Him is not worthy of Him (Mt 10:37).
Your love to your children should appear in making them know God and love Him, as the Lord said, “I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them,” “I have given to them the words which You have given Me.” (Jn 17:26,28).
Let no competitor of God, whether a person or a thing, be in your heart.
Therefore the Lord compared the saints to five wise virgins (Mt 25), because a virgin has no other attachment than to God. So, St. Paul said, “I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2 Cor 11:2). And David the Prophet had the virtue of being satisfied with God, so he said, “I have put my trust in the Lord God,” “there is none upon earth that I desire besides You,” “I shall not want.” (Ps 73 : 28,25;23:1) He did not care for the luxury of the kingdom, but His only request was life with God.” “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold tha beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple,” “Your face O Lord, I will seek.” (Ps 27:4,8,9).
Who lives to the Lord will not care about the external appearances, but lives in any position.
Joseph the Righteous lived to the Lord when he was with his family, when he became a servant in a rich man’s house, when he became a prisoner, and when he became a minister. The aim did not change: to live to the Lord.
On the other hand some people refuse to live to the lord unless in a certain position!
They want a certain position in the church, otherwise they get angry and refuse to work. Others want a special treatment from God, otherwise they make God their enemy. They put conditions to live with God! What is this, brother? Would you refuse to live with God if they drive you away from church”!
Do not forsake life with God for any reasons and in any circumstances.
Why should we live to the Lord?
First: we are His creation, and He gave us this life.
We and our life belong to Him. He granted us existence. He made us in His own image and after His likeness (Gen 1:26), so, we cannot maintain this image unless we be with Him and belong to Him.
Second: He redeemed us and bought us for a price, so we became His own.
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor 6 : 19,20).
Third: We are His Children, bearing His name.
The children of God are manifest, and whoever has been born of God does not sin (1 Jn 3:9,10). If we live to ourselves or to the body or the world, we will sin and become no more His children. But we live to Him so that we may keep His image and be worthy to be called children, unlike the lost son (Lk 15:19).
Fourth: This is the true life: to live to the Lord.
He is the life (Jn 11 : 25; 14:6), whoever is attached to Him is attached to life and truly lives. And whoever is separated from Him is considered dead, as the lost son in his sin (Jn 16:24), and as the angel of the Church in Sardis (Rev 3:1). I remember a poem I wrote while I was a youth, entitled “Are we really alive?!”
Taste then and see that the Lord is good, as the Psalmist says (Ps 34:8). Whoever tastes such a life will feel that it is good and far better (Phil 1:23); it is the pledge of a happy eternal life.
How to live to the Lord ?
To live to the Lord does not mean whole consecration.
This is for monks and nuns, clergy, and consecrated men and women. But to live to the Lord is for every believer, every member of the city of God, every person qualified for the kingdom.
Our worship to the Lord should not be a formality.
Many pray, fast, read the Bible, and attend the church meetings regularly, but they have no relationships with God. Their worship is mere outward appearance that does not attain a life with God. About such people the Lord said, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” (Mt 15:8; Isa 29: 13) So, you ought to live to the Lord with your heart and action, in spirit and truth (Jn 4:23). Then you will feel God’s presence in your life and your being in His presence.
The life with the Lord appears in many virtues or in a distinguished life.
A person who lives to the Lord leads a life of obedience and submission to the Lord, a life of chastity, purity, and love by which he complies with the commandments of the Lord in love and joy rather than in fanaticism, saying with the Psalmist, “I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure,” “I was glad when they said to me: Let us go into the house of the Lord.” (Ps 119: 162; 122:1).
Whoever lives to the Lord ought to live strange in the world; as not of the world (Jn 15:19).
He ought to put before him the words: “Those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.” (1 Cor 7:31) In this way our fathers lived, confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb 11: 13), and that the world is passing away, and the lust of it ( 1 Jn 2 : 17). One of the fathers once said : The best is the person who cares not about the world, whatever it may be.
Whoever lives to the Lord will certainly attain indifference to the world (1 Jn 2:15,16), but people are levels in this respect who lives to the Lord will not be worried and troubled about many thins, as Martha did (Lk 10:41), but is sure that one thing is needed, i.e., God. Some choose this good part and attain even to the life of consecration.
Who lives to the Lord does not fear death, but receives it gladly.
This brings us to the rest of the verse :
“If we die, we die to the Lord.” We die to Him, to meet Him, and thus be always with Him (1 Thess 4:17).
Who lives to the Lord will be glad to put off the corruptible body and put on the incorruptible, heavenly, and spiritual body (1 Cor 15); and be always with the Lord as St. Paul the Apostle desired seeing that far better (Phil 1 : 23); to be with Him in Paradise, and in the heavenly Jerusalem in the kingdom according to His true promise that where He is, we may be also (Jn 14:3).
We die to Him, that we may see Him face to face (1 Cor 13:12).
We die to Him also means to die for His sake, as the martyrs and apologists did, or as the Scripture says :
“We who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh…” (2 Cor 4:11,12), and also : “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!” (Num 23:10).
Would that we try to live to the Lord, that we may also die to Him!
Let us try even for one day as an exercise “one ideal day”, and if we succeed, let us try more days. See how the thief on the right of the Lord lived with Him for a few hours, died with Him, and gained Parade.. Another example is St. Baeesa who lived with the Lord only a few hours in repentance and won life.
Let us start then to live to the Lord.