FOR WHOM ARE YOU LIVING?

There is quite a big challenge when the profession of our faith shifts from practice to mere lip profession; when obedience to Christ’s teaching is seen as being legalistic and too burdensome. If this is the case, then, even though many may show a strong dedication to Christ in speech, they will be devoid of a practical experience or a walk with Him.

So instead of striving to enter through the narrow way Christ spoke of, it all becomes sweet religious shoptalk and laboring for selfish gain. People, therefore, tend to only have a form of godliness—in their speech and, perhaps, dressing. But the power to back it up with true godliness of life in the innermost being is what they will greatly lack.

Except our profession exceeds the normal profession that is so common in our contemporary society, in which religious people suppose they can serve both God and Mammon or live for themselves yet claim to belong to Christ, then we will only be deceiving ourselves. Our faith must go beyond the superficial, lip profession of this day.

Christ must be supremely honored in our lives. If not, then our profession of faith is not genuine. For this reason, let every person test themselves and see whether they are really in the Faith. It is dangerous to take things for granted and live as though everything is okay. Truly, to persist in this estate is to perish in one’s gross ignorance of God and His ways.

Have nothing to do with such a practice that only excites or stir up your emotions but don’t satisfy the deep longings of your soul. We were created to experientially know God in a very personal and progressive manner. No other substitute for this will do. Vain is any practice of this Faith that doesn’t draw a person closer to God and farther away from the polluting influence of self, the world, and the devil.

There ought to be a strong desire to be freed from sin. Not just outward sins that would paint us in good light before others, but most especially inward sins—such as pride, lust, bitterness, discontentment, resentment, and the likes. But much more than a longing to be freed from sin, there must be an ever-increasing desire to know God intimately and enjoy an incessant fellowship with Him.

Many people today are trying to use God. They see godliness of life as a means to financial gain, fame, and earthly power. Do you consider following Christ as a means to an end? Granted, you may eventually get what you desire. But be assured that you will most certainly lose Christ. For nobody has ever had Christ and the world at the same time.

If it is Christ you seek, then do so with the whole of your heart. This implies that your eye must be single and gaze fixed on Him alone, with nothing distracting us from this worthy pursuit. Keep in mind that there must be a “forsaking of” before a “cleaving to.” In other words, we must forsake the world and its ways before we can cleave to Christ, and walk on the narrow path that leads to life.

When we come of age, every one of us, like Moses, must choose either to indulge in the lust that is in this present world—which are the pleasures of sin for a season. Or we will do the work of God—which is to believe in the One whom He sent, Jesus Christ the Lord. Let that man or woman who desires to pursue hard after Christ lay aside every selfish, ambitious pursuit that is of no eternal value.

Christ’s place in a man’s life cannot be rivaled: He must enjoy an unrivaled position in your life. He demands absolute allegiance. Nothing short of total commitment and wholehearted devotion to Him will do. Be what it may, He cannot be the Lord of your life if He doesn’t have all of you. Christ either has all or has nothing at all.

Thus, if Christ is supremely exalted in our lives, it will radically affect the way we live. We will live to please and bring glory to Him. Our entire being will be gripped by a holy fear; a fear that would lead to godliness of life and reverence for Him. Paul’s eager desire was that “Christ will be exalted in [his] body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20).

So, he says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (vs 21). Beginning from the Damascus road where he encountered Christ, Paul lived his entire life to bring Christ glory. For Paul, all of life was Christ. He had been crucified with Christ, so that it was him who no longer lived, but Christ living in and through him. Which is why his life was lived by trusting and totally depending on Christ.

This means whatever Paul did, even the least things of eating and drinking, his desire and constant expectation was that Christ be honored. When a person desperately wants to know Christ that he or she longs for nothing else, that person will most certainly find Him. To find satisfaction in Christ and not the things He offers is the surest route to grace and peace.

And such a person will have all these spiritual blessings in abundance. (See, 2 Peter 2:2). It is a precious thing, indeed, to experience the gracious provision of Almighty God. However, it is another thing entirely for God’s grace to be abundantly lavished on a man’s life, and for that man to find favor in His sight. The latter is better than the former.

Two little lines from C.T. Studd’s poem, a pioneering missionary to China in the 19th century, that brought conviction and left an impression on my heart, reads thus: “ONLY ONE LIFE, T’WILL SOON BE PAST. ONLY WHAT’S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST.” We have only one life to live; which is short and brief. And after this life comes the Judgement. Every true disciple of Christ will someday stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ to give an account of how he or she lived this short span. Be reminded that only what is done for Christ will last.

In light of this truth, will you live for self or for Christ? I admonish you to seek the glory that comes from God alone. Living your life, not to please yourself, but Him who re-created you in Christ and called you with a holy calling to be part of His big family. Have God for a portion, and you will lack nothing! I say again, “Have God for a portion, and you will lack nothing!” May God be our portion. May He be our exceedingly great reward, I pray.

To be truly blessed is to have God Himself as your inheritance. Let Him be, and you will never regret it for all eternity.