What Do You Live For?

It should be no shock that I don't understand the motivation of some people. I don't walk in their shoes. I neither have their background nor skills. I don't have their talents and I don't have their hearts. Yet, I still wonder why they do what they do. What drives them to get up each day?

I heard of one young man who wants to be a rock star. He is very talented. He also spends a significant part of his week playing video games. He doesn't work for his stated goal. I don't think he knows that being a rock star isn't his true goal. He truly lives to have a good time. He hopes that he will have stardom fall into his lap. Stardom represents more good times for him. He does not know that becoming a rock star involves lots of hard work. You have to be driven to write, practice and perform in as many places as you can until you develop a significant following. The chances of being signed by a major label are one in 100 million. You don't have time to play video games. You must be driven.

People watch American Idol and see these people rocketed into stardom. They don't know the courage it takes to get on the show. Wouldn't you do whatever it takes to get on the show if that was what you lived for?

I live to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. He has called me to preach. This is not something that I am particularly good at. I work at it each day. I took every preaching course at seminary. I wrote sermons that I never preached before I became a preacher. I practiced by myself when no one ever heard me. I prayed for over eight years each morning and night for the opportunity to preach regularly. I arrive at the church nearly three hours before each worship service to pray that God will deliver His message through me. I lay the sermon at His feet and even have changed the whole thing when I thought it would not please Him.

The things you live for never take a back seat. You work at them. You improve from where you are now. You are never satisfied with getting by. You stay up late and get up early.

Strangely, I don't worry about what people do with my sermons. I have been disappointed with myself when people have made decisions for Christ. I have been pleased when no one made a decision. I just want to be obedient to God's leading. I amd pleased if I have honestly delivered what He has led me to say.

I pity those who don't know what they live for. How do they know their journey if they don't know where they want to go?

How do you know what you live for? I don't think it merely comes from thinking of something that you want to do and then doing so. I believe it comes from the God who created you. Doesn't it make sense that the Inventor would know why He invented His creation? He has a purpose for each person. He has something they can live for that is beyond themselves.

Yet, most people, even most Christians, don't know what their "calling" is. This is because they have never truly understood the story of the Rich Young Ruler. He was already going to church. He was already a good guy. He would have been accepted by most churches as an example of what they hoped the whole church would become. Jesus, however, said he lacked something. Jesus told him to sell all that he had, give it to the poor and come follow Him. The Rich Young Ruler had a whole lot and walked away disappointed because he was hanging on to things that no one should ever live for.

Does this mean that all Christians should sell all they have and follow Jesus. Yes. Every one of us should relinquish everything to Christ. All that is in our possession should be given to Him so that He can use it any way He pleases. He may ask us to give it to the poor. He may tell us to leave our homes to pursue what we will live for. You just don't get your life's purpose from God by telling God what you will or will not do. Even most ministers don't understand this.

You can't live for something that is merely convenient. That's not a life's purpose. That is wandering from one thing to another because nothing is convenient every day. A life of convenience destroys our marriages, the raising of our children, our finances, our bodies, our friendships and our life's purpose.

Do you know what you live for? Are you willing to find out what God's purpose is for your life?