When you gave your life to Christ, it was an intentional choice. Since that moment, how often have you made the same kind of conscious decision to live your life devoted to Him? Most of us drift through life content to do what everyone else does – find a steady job, live in a respectable neighborhood and perhaps start a family. Along the way our goals appear to be how much stuff we can acquire and how large we can grow our 401(k) balances. We live a life that looks no different from those who do not claim to follow Christ, most of whom don’t even believe He was who He said He was.
If you aren’t living with a purposeful focus on walking in the footsteps of Christ, doing the things He commanded you to do, then why did you give your heart to Jesus in the first place? In Revelation 3:15-18, Jesus says that those who profess Him but do nothing for Him are lukewarm followers (think fair-weather friends) whom He will spit out of His mouth. Why carry on the charade of living a Christian life if you aren’t going to take it seriously and live for Him with every breath that you breathe, fully surrendered and ready to do whatever He calls you to do? If the things of this world are more enticing to you than the things of God, then get off the bus and go live for something else.
The call to follow Christ is a call of radical obedience, not tepid curiosity. You can’t live for Jesus by listening to a sermon for an hour on Sunday and then living as if you didn’t hear a word of it the rest of the week. If you signed up for this deal only to receive your “Get out of Hell free” card then you are going to be massively disappointed. In my mind, Jesus made it pretty clear that even if you believe in Him, but neglect to do the things He told you to do, you aren’t going to make it to Heaven (Matthew 25:31-46).
Even if I’m wrong and that magic prayer you prayed guaranteed you safety from an eternity in Hell, think of everything you’ll miss by simply putting your faith on a shelf until it comes time to die. You will not experience the incredible joy of getting to know a Savior that loves you. You’ll never know the indescribable peace that consumes you as you serve others and glorify God in your life. The satisfaction of a life well lived, a life full of purpose and meaning will always elude you until there is no more time with which to pursue it. Discovering your need for Christ is exciting and the thoughts of spending eternity with Him are euphoric, but all the really good stuff is found in the middle. Only by experiencing the struggles of defeat and the joys of victory with Jesus will you come to fully love and appreciate your Creator.
What, besides hoping for the best, are you doing to draw closer to God? What will you do tomorrow? Until we make a conscious decision to put away everything in our lives that is not Christ serving or Christ honoring, we will forever be empty and cold. As followers of Jesus, we have been immersed in His Spirit, and that same Spirit longs for its Maker. The only way to find peace and stillness within is to bring the Spirit within us back into union with Jesus. This takes consistent and intentional effort and action. We were called to serve Christ by demonstrating His love in tangible ways to others; this is how we align our spirit with His. In what way are you living this out today? Get intentional; focus your life on serving the only One who is worthy of our devotion and praise. Practice serving God in every way imaginable, and do it every day for the rest of your life. By living intentionally for Him and you will find a life that is truly worth living.