Dead While She Lives

Dead While She Lives

Are you dead while you live? We live in a culture that worships pleasure. We don’t like quiet lives but feel the need to be entertained at every moment with television, music, and/or the Internet thinking only about ourselves instead of serving others. We have become seekers of pleasure rather than seekers of God. Most of those who call themselves Christians spend little to no time in the Word of God and learning from Him. No, they would rather learn and be entertained by the ways of the world.

The Apostle Paul, in giving instructions to widows, wrote about two different types of widows. One type were those who seek God and “continue in supplications and prayers night and day” (1 Timothy 5:5). They love the Lord and seek to please Him in all that they do. In contrast, the other types of widows don’t trust and rely on the Lord “but [they] that live in pleasure are dead while [they] live” (1 Timothy 5:6).

We are told that in the end times, which we are presently living in, many will be “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4). Even many Christians care more about seeking pleasure than seeking the Lord. If this is the case for you, then you are dead while you live. What does this mean?

“It properly means to live in luxury, voluptuously; to indulge freely in eating and drinking; to yield to the indulgence of the appetites. It does not indicate grossly criminal pleasures; but the kind of pleasure connected with luxurious living, and with pampering the appetites” (Barnes’ Notes).

Do you pamper and indulge your appetites? We are to be known for being temperate in everything. “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Temperate means that we are moderate and not given to excess. We practice self-denial and self-control. We say “no” to the flesh and constantly seeking pleasure and “yes” to righteousness and serving others. We hide His Word in our hearts and allow Him to transform us as we renew our minds with truth so that we can live lives that are pleasing unto the Lord and bring Him glory.

“But she that liveth in pleasure,…. Voluptuously, and deliciously; lives a wanton, loose, and licentious life, serving divers lusts and pleasures:, is dead while she liveth; is dead in trespasses and sins, while she lives in them; is dead morally or spiritually, while she lives a natural or corporeal life” (Gill’s Exposition).

Women who are dead while they live don’t search scriptures to see how they are to live: how they are to dress, act, and speak. No, they go along with what culture is doing. They dress immodestly. They act according to their emotions and feelings and do as they please. They speak negatively about others and have no problems using swear words.

As godly women, we are called to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord, not pleasing to ourselves. Many falsely believe that if they continually seek to be entertained that they will be happy but no, when we seek to serve others and deny ourselves is when we find true happiness. “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 144:15). Joy comes from obeying and serving the Lord, not from serving ourselves and our pleasures.

“The widow-woman who could so forget her sorrow and her duty is spoken of as a living corpse, and sharply contrasted with her far happier sister, who, dead to the pleasures of the flesh, living a life of prayer and of self-denial, in the true sense of the word, may be spoken of as living” (Ellicott’s Commentary).

It is in living a life of prayer and self-denial that fills our lives with joy. May we all be like “happier” widows who live their lives for the Lord and in serving others since only in living for the Lord are we able to find lasting joy and satisfaction. We don’t find our strength in being busy and seeking pleasure. No, we find our strength in quietness and in trust. This is the truly abundant life!

9 thoughts on “Dead While She Lives

  1. Thank you for your wonderful encouragement today! I really love my quiet time with the Lord. Our current culture gravitates to noisy, busy activity! Everything in a hurry and flurry ?How many children and adults fall asleep while looking at their electronic devices?? “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever”(Isaiah 32:17).

  2. Another excellent post, Lori. Thanks for the reminder to set my affection on things above and not on things on the earth {Colossians 3:2}.

  3. This is so true and my mother in law is just like this, sadly. She’s an extreme leftist, who goes to a huge left leaning mega church that is all about entertainment (instead of sound doctrine) pushes her church and leftist ideology more than the actual Gospel or scripture. I’m glad she’s a Christian but she attended the AWFUL women’s march the last few years, her favorite TV show is the walking dead (she watches demonic violence yet she is strongly against gun rights) … ugh I could go on. But because she’s my husbands mother, I am mostly quiet towards her and try really hard not to say anything to my husband about just how much I disagree with her on almost everything lol. It’s been a real challenge! And next year I’ll be homeschooling my daughter and I just know she’s probably not going to be supportive of that, she already thinks I’m nuts for being anti-vaccines (and her daughters son has autism but they keep giving him vaccines!).

    I’m a new Christian, only a few years, but I’m grateful for your blog because it helps me to stay on a more biblical path and that I’m not alone in believing in these things (homemaking, homeschooling etc). So THANK YOU so much for speaking the truth! And never mind the haters, they are brainwashed by feminism and cultural marxism!

  4. Great post! We have so many distractions (pleasures) today. Spending time on the internet and social media, and other entertainments, takes a lot of time away from doing more productive things. True happiness comes from serving the Lord. Thank you Lori!

  5. Wow Lori. This post just hit me hard. I have been struggling the last few weeks with these very things. Yet these words give me hope and the will to keep trying to do better for my family and God. Thanks so much for taking time to write for all of us out here in internetland.

  6. I have a teenage autistic son ,who had signs of being this way from birth.We do not know the cause of autism, so please don’t think it is just vaccines because no one knows the cause for certain.We choose to go see our son as a Special gift from the Lord.

  7. My point is that anyone with an autistic child should be very careful of vaccines, not just as a possible cause but to help prevent it from getting any worse. They give him the full rounds, if it were my child I’d say no way. This in my opinion would include also being careful of the child’s diet, etc. I am not an advocate of vaccines at all, honestly, as I believe there could also be a connection between them and the huge increase in autoimmune disorders and issues which I have had to deal with in my own life. There needs to be much more research into the long term side effects of so many vaccines.

  8. A very timely and relevant post. It truly has become near impossible to distinguish between professed Christians and the ungodly, as they both look, talk and behave alike. The reality is we are either confessing or denying Christ with our lives, whether in character, conduct and conversation. Nevertheless, the wheat and tares must grow together until the harvest.

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