Friday, February 21, 2020

Who Are You Living For?


“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17)

Someone once said, “At twenty, we worry what everyone thinks of us.  At forty, we don’t care what anyone thinks of us.  At sixty, we realize no one was even thinking of us!”  If we are honest with ourselves, we spend plenty of time worrying about what others are thinking and seeking to please them.  We run the risk of being less real about who we are in order to meet the expectations of those around us.

If there are things in our life that are drawing us AWAY from God, instead of closer, we need to consider ridding our lives of them. Whether it is an action or an item, we need to consider how it affects us, how it affects others, and how it affects our faith.

Winston Churchill was a great model for being oblivious to public opinion.  The Puritans, though disliked by many, are admired for their conviction-driven lifestyles.  They were tightly focused in the belief that all of life was to be lived “By faith, to the glory of God!”  They lived to please the Father and no one else.

John the Baptist was a great example of living before an Audience of One.  He was a radical man of God.  He didn’t feel the need to fit in, be popular, or please people.  His clothing of camel hair was out of fashion, and his call to repentance did not make the Pharisees and Sadducees very happy.

“John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:4-9)

What are some of the things that those who claim the name of Jesus think they can do and avoid answering to God?

  1) Engaging in sex outside of marriage
  2) Telling lies to avoid punishment
  3) Cheating in business
  4) Engaging in extramarital affairs
  5) Reading pornography and allowing sinful behaviors to entertain us in movies, television, the Internet
  6) Willingness to break our word and to not be loyal
  7) Over-eating
  8) Addiction to substances, people, situations and things
  9) Refusing to be accountable for our actions
10) Engaging in gossip and slander

But the Bible warns us plainly that living our lives outside of Christ is to court disaster.  It is written:

Proverbs 6:27 asks us, “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?”
Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
Galatians 6:8 reminds us, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

Would you join me in praying for a renewed passion to live before an audience of One, honoring God; regardless of the cost?  Oswald Chambers once said, “If I love Jesus personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though they treat me like a doormat.” 

Who are you living for?  




 

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