Why You Do What You Do
“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” Colossians 3:17
It was a gorgeous spring Saturday afternoon, and I had spent the entire day thus far loving and serving the Lord, in one way or another, foregoing anything I might have been doing in the past, from visiting the nearby beach to thrift shop shopping to going to a local weekend event. I was passionately pressing on with my usual zeal to love, praise, and worship the Lord while working on my devotional writing and printing and preparing my weekly Daily Inspiration for my friends on death row and my homeless friends and others in extreme need and the general public. Interspersed with this, I was caring for the 13 special needs and senior rescued dogs in my little ministry’s care. I have no human over me telling me to work as hard as I do, nor any human telling me to forsake all for Christ. Yet that’s exactly what I do, and I couldn’t help but contemplate why I do what I do as I pressed on. Especially given such a long history of such an exceedingly self-centered life.
It’s not for the pay. I’m on a poverty level income. It’s not for the fame. I’ve never been more unpopular. It’s not for the social life. I’ve given one up so I can be 100% available to love and serve the Lord, and the tiny bit I do socially is for me an opportunity to seek ways to love and glorify God and minister to others. It’s not to fit into this world. A lifestyle of being totally sold out to loving and serving God makes me totally unfit for this world. It’s not for success. In the world’s eyes, I’m a failure. It’s not to live my long-time dreams. I’ve never been farther from the dreams I had. It’s not to get attention. I get almost none. It’s not to earn God’s love, forgiveness, and a free ticket to heaven. This all comes through Christ and cannot be earned. It’s because I’m desperately in love with the Lord and desperately desirous to help a perishing world find and follow Him for eternity. For this, it is worth forsaking the life I once lived and what I once desired and any earthly desires that remain to devote myself 24-7 to Him!
I do what I do because Jesus died for me so I could live for and with God forever. I find no greater joy than in living and breathing for Him my every breath. No pleasure on earth compares to the reward of being in fellowship with God forever and being used by Him to help others find and follow Him and discover what I have found. How glorious is God in Christ!
Why do you do what you do? Look at your everyday life and ask yourself this. Are you devoted to yourself, to others, or to God? Will you forsake all for the Lord?