While praying this morning, I blurted out, “Lord, let me serve and glorify You until my dying breath.” This is without a doubt the deepest desire of my heart. At the same time, I am only too aware of how often I fail to live this way. There is no higher calling in life than to love and glorify the Lord. Each of us is called to this privilege, yet most of us will live lives far short of this.
Instead of pursuing the greatest purpose, we settle for a life that is, at best, mediocre. All the treasures and wisdom of Heaven are at our disposal (Colossians 2:3; James 1:5; 2 Peter 1:3; Philippians 4:19), but we live as if we are ignorant paupers. Life with Jesus should be so much more (John 10:10), and it will be so much more if we surrender and commit everything to Him.
Even as I repeat the words “until my dying breath” to myself, I am at once invigorated and saddened. I am invigorated because I understand how the Lord desires for me to live. With such knowledge, I can attack each day with purpose, excitement, and overwhelming gratitude. That’s the invigorating side of the coin. The flip side is when I see how far and how often I fall short of living this way, it grieves me to my very core. I can hear the words of the Apostle Paul ringing in my ears: “I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.” (Romans 7:15).
The entire purpose of living is to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31). When we live to glorify anyone or anything else, we are denying who God is (Isaiah 42:8; Romans 1:21-23; Exodus 20:3-5). If we love the Lord, we will obey His commands (John 14:15). There is no one else worthy of our obedience and devotion (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). We chase after success that will never last (Matthew 6:19-20), indulge in pleasures that will never satisfy (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11), and pursue a peace that will never come (Isaiah 48:22). It is all so futile, as productive as chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14).
What if we would change our focus so that from this day forward, we chose to serve and glorify God until our dying breath? When we take that final breath, there is no way we will feel any disappointment. At that moment, when we look back and survey our lives, how satisfying it will be to know that it was all for Jesus? Everything we did, every hour we lived, it was all for Him! That’s the life I want to live.
None of us knows how many breaths we have remaining. That’s why it’s so important to make every one count. What if your next breath is your last one? Will the way you spent your life have been worth it? What will you take with you into eternity? Nothing but what you did for Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Everything else will burn away until your true character is all that remains (2 Peter 3:10). I want to live for Jesus, don’t you? I want my life to count for something, to have been worth the struggle. Most of all, I want to serve and glorify Jesus until my dying breath.