I was sharing with the Senior Leadership Team a devotion the other day, in which I described a an experience Kris and I had had last year – we went on safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa. It could be called a “bucket list” experience. It got me thinking about the notion of a “bucket list”, in particular, is it a concept a Christian should be bothered with? We here in Australia are blessed with abundance. Putting together a list of things you feel you need to do before you die – a bucket list – could simply become an exercise where our focus is not on our service of God but, instead, a focus on things we haven’t got that we selfishly want.
Thanks to Google, there are some easily found suggestions for a Christian’s Bucket list. Sadly, they seem a little inadequate and when reading them, you feel like they miss the point – “visit the Holy Land, find someone from your past and apologise, memorise a chapter of the Bible” – we could argue that they are all good things, but I felt like there should be more to such a list. Then I found this gem – a list of biblical challenges, direct quotes, standards from God’s word to meet in our Christian walk. I’m sharing it with you as it was listed – may it inform any other “bucket list” we might want to devise for ourselves.
1. It becomes us to fulfil all righteousness (Matthew 3:15).
2. Live, not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).
3. Worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve (Matthew 4:10).
4. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
5. Repent and believe the Good News! (Mark 1:15)
6. You must be born again through baptism (John 3:7).
7. Worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
8. Repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38).
9. Take and Eat, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me (Mark 14:22).
10. Reckon yourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:11).
11. Present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God (Romans 12:1).
12. Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit (1 Corinthians 6:20).
13. Desire spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1).
14. Stand fast in the faith (1 Corinthians 16:13).
15. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30).
16. Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
17. Pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).
18. Rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 3:1).
19. Set your heart on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, rather than things of earth (Colossians 3:1–2).
20. Let the peace of God rule in your heart (Colossians 3:15).
21. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom (Colossians 3:16).
22. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).
23. Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
24. In everything give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
25. Do not neglect your spiritual gift (1 Timothy 4:14).
26. Lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12).
27. Be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord (2 Timothy 1:8).
28. Strive to enter into the rest of the people of God (Hebrews 4:11).
29. Hold fast to your profession of faith without wavering (Hebrews 10:23).
30. The just shall live by faith (Hebrews 10:38).
31. Keep Holy the Sabbath, do not neglect to Meet together each Sunday (Hebrews 10:25).
32. Despise not the correction of the Lord, for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives (Hebrews 12:5–6).
33. Make straight paths for your feet, Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:13-14).
34. Refuse not Him who speaks and warns from heaven (Hebrews 12:25).
35. Offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name (Hebrews 13:15).
36. Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21).
37. Submit yourselves to God (James 4:7).
38. Is any among you afflicted? Let him send for the priests of the Church, let them anoint him (James 5:13).
39. Declare your sins by regular celebration of Confession (John 20:21-23; James 5:13).
40. Declare with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. (Romans 10:9)
41. Sanctify the Lord God in your heart (1 Peter 3:15).
42. Commit the keeping of your soul to God in well doing (1 Peter 4:19).
43. Cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
44. Look for and hasten the coming of the Day of Lord (2 Peter 3:12).
45. Devote yourself to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
46. Build up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost (Jude 20).
47. Keep yourselves in the love of God (Jude 21).
48. Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works (Revelation 2:5).
49. Fear God, and give glory to him (Revelation 14:7).
50. Worship him that made heaven, and earth, and sea, and the fountains of waters (Revelation 14:7).
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