Whose pleasure do you live for?

Temporary Vision 

A.W. Tower once said, 'The weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world.'

Why would he say that? Why does it matter? 

Christian have identities that are wrapped up in Jesus Christ. They do not belong to themselves, to live for temporary pleasures. They belong to God, as his children. They are called to know him intimately and follow him closely. 

The Lord has opened their eyes to see his kingdom at work in this world. The material world, and all that is in it, functions from a purely temporal perspective. People fight for what they want. They steal, lie, and cheat to get their short term appetites satisfied. Politicians scratch and claw to move their agendas forward in an attempt to create a society that reflects their desires.

Eternal Persepective

But what about the Christian? How should the we, as God's children, interact with the world knowing that it is not our home? The following are a few reflections concerning this issue:

First, our attitudes should reflect our eternal home. When each of us came to faith in Jesus Christ our citizenship was transferred from this world to a heavenly one. We live here for a short time, seventy-five years or so, but we do not share the same values or vision for life that the world holds. Naturally, we should always remember in the front of our minds that our eternal home is filled with joy in God's presence. 

Second, our mission should build eternal value. It is easy to get trapped by temptation to focus our time and efforts on temporal things. Politics, community development, and business threaten to steal our attention away from the message of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. To be sure, we should follow through our beliefs with social action, however we should never focus our lives on building temporary institutions.

Third, our desire should be to please God, not man. At the judgement there will be one judge. There is one creator and savior. His judgement and his alone matters. If we follow the Lord wholeheartedly we will be in the minority by far. Some people will admire us, yet others will despise us. The person wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord will find joy in pleasing him even during times of severe persecution.

The Turn

So the question remains: What is the purpose of your life? Is it to please man or to please God? 

My prayer is that your one and only devotion would be to please God with your life. May you thirst for his presence in your life. And may you be satisfied in him at all times.

May you design your life around fulfilling God's mission in this world. And may this be the greatest priority in your life. Amen.

Galatians 1:9-10 If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.