We live in a world where we are obsessed with our own safety and comfort and the safety and comfort of our loved ones. The size and luxuries of our homes, the conveniences of current technology, our retirement accounts, they’re all about our safety and comfort in the present and in the future. I am the first to admit that when I pray, I pray for the safety and comfort of my family and friends. I pray the same for myself. We all work hard and save as much as we can in order that we can have a safe, secure and comfortable future until we die. We do our best to try to avoid any kind of discomfort or inconvenience as much as we possibly can.

I remember making fun of my mom for being a scaredy-cat when it came to taking risks in life. She would always discourage me from doing anything remotely risky or dangerous. She mentioned once she would not want me to live in California because of the earthquakes. She would constantly worry about our family’s safety, which is totally natural for a mom. I would judge my mom and give her my fatalistic attitude of whatever is going to happen is going to happen no matter what. I would also give her the old “ye of little faith” attitude from time to time. What’s ironic is that I found myself having the same fears as my mom’s when it came to my own children. I just wanted to protect them from anything and everything that would threaten their safety in any way or bring any hint of discomfort to them.

Life is not about me AT ALL. Not even one bit.

It’s ALL ABOUT GOD…

God has been working on my heart in many ways and one of the things that he’s been slowly changing is my outlook on life. After reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan, I realized that I was missing the point in a really bad way. Life is not about me AT ALL. Not even one bit. It’s ALL ABOUT GOD and His sovereign plan to reconcile all of us to Him. We are not here on this earth to satisfy the desires of our hearts, live a comfortable life with our nice little families in our nice white picket fence homes and then die and go to heaven where even better treasures await us. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. We will one day have to give our creator and judge an account of our lives. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

We declare with our lips that we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and yet we live as if there is no God, or at least as if God is not sufficient in providing for our needs. We are so busy building and securing a life for ourselves that we leave no room for a life that is lived by faith and trust in our provider and sovereign Lord. And yet in Matthew 6:25-27, it says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

God is our sole source of life and provider of all of our needs. Nothing I have is my own. It’s all God’s. As it says in Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” God can give and just as easily take away. It is His right. It makes me think of several occasions when my daughter would place an object in the palm of her hand, make a fist and squeeze it as tight as she possibly could. She would then ask me to try to take the object away from her. I would just humor her and pretend I was having a hard time prying her little fingers open knowing all along that it would take me less than 2 seconds to take that object away from her. For one, I could simply tickle her and she would be done. We are the same way with God. We hold tight to our possessions and our lives and forget that God can take it all away with the blink of an eye.

…when I’m seated in that judgment seat, will I be able to face God

and sincerely say that I did my best for Him.

It’s not that God does not wish for us to have a good life with our family in a comfortable home. He’s asking us to keep our priorities straight. If you keep reading Matthew 6, it says in verse 33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” We are to love Him first and live for Him because “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). And if this compelling love is in us, it should be natural that we are motivated by the desire to please God over satisfying the desires of our hearts, compassion over comfort, and eternal treasures over earthly treasures.

When I think of my life, I can’t help but wonder if when I’m seated in that judgment seat, will I be able to face God and sincerely say that I did my best for Him. Will I even be able to face Him at all? All I know is that it’s not too late for me to start living by faith, in complete surrender to His will. My heart yearns to live a life of true obedience to the Cross. The words in Matthew 10:37-39 ring true now more than ever, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Only then, can I hope to hear these words from my master, “Job well done my good and faithful servant.”

Have a blessed rest of the week!

Also check out Part 1 of my thoughts and learnings from Crazy Love in my last post, Am I Living by the Spirit?

Linking up with these lovelies: Words with Winter | Purposeful Faith | Unite | Word Filled Wednesday | A Little R & R | Coffee and Conversation | Thursday Favorite Things | SHINE | Thought Provoking Thursday | Cozy Reading Spot | Fellowship Fridays | Faith Filled Friday | Grace & Truth