Who are you living for?

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soil? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’” Matthew 16:24-26
In life, we have a choice who we live for. We can live for the Lord, or we can live for ourselves. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian for; we all ought to stop regularly and check where our hearts are at on this.
We may know intellectually that Jesus has redeemed us – He has bought us – out of the cesspool of sin that we were in, with no hope of saving ourselves. We may know that in so doing, He has given us the destiny of spending eternity in heaven with Him. We know that we should be living for His kingdom and for His glory. But do these truths get lived out in our lives? Have we committed every moment to Him?
I’m not saying that all Christians should quit their jobs, work full-time for the church or go into missions, sell all they have and give it to the poor. Our workplaces are often part of God’s plan: they can be our mission field. God may have given you special abilities, and by working in your job you are using them. The key here is not to get pulled into the world’s way of thinking about your job – on one hand that ‘it pays the bills’, or on the other that it’s a way you can get ahead of other people. Also with your possessions: you can use them for God’s kingdom. Invite people to your house for meals, lend them your books and tools, without expecting to receive anything back in return. And as often as you have opportunity, use your lifestyle as a witness that you are living for God. People will notice.
At the end of the day, only the things that we do for the Lord with the right motives, will count. The rest will be burned up as straw (1 Cor. 3:12-15). To gain true life, we must give up our lives – setting our own goals aside and pursuing God with everything that we have.