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?
