Day 2358 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


Colossians 3:17 NIV

All for Christ. That should be our goal. That should be our reason. But so often we get busy living for other things. We make other stuff our priorities. We get distracted and fall into all sorts of different ways of thinking. We worry about things that don't matter. We do or say things just to please other people and pacify their desire to remain unchanged. We get caught up living our lives for reasons that are far short of what we're actually here to do. All because we see these lives and our time in them as all that counts right now. But that's not really the case.

There is more than this. There is more than worldly comfort. There is more than being popular or fitting in. There is a lot more. But we're told that those things are what matter. So we get lost in this world of numbers. How many friends we have. How many followers we have. How many likes we get. How many people see our posts or comments. And so we adjust what we do and what we say in order to boost those numbers so that we can feel like we're making a bigger difference. But all the while we're just spinning our wheels trying to win some sort of virtual friend competition while real life is speeding right on by.

In truth the only number that matters is One. Christ. It's about what we do to share Him with the world. It's how we reflect His light and love into a world that is in serious need of both. It's in choosing to live our lives in such a way that makes people see that following Him is very different than what's considered normal. It's about being His hands and His feet carrying His message of His salvation to His people to help them find their way back to His promise of an eternity in His kingdom. None of that really has anything to do with us or making sure that the world likes us.

The sad part is that in order to make this world like us we have to do as they do and say what they want us to say. But those things don't come close to lining up with who God calls us to be, what He asks us do, and the truth that He has given us to share. So again, we have to choose. We can spend our time prioritizing pleasing the masses or we can choose to serve the One that gave His life for us. Either option we choose will probably mean that we let someone down. That's the hard part of these big decisions. Someone won't like our choice. Someone will disagree. Someone will be disappointed. But it's better to disappoint a world that doesn't know what's best instead of a Father who defines what's best.

We have to break out of this limited worldly way of thinking. Our true impact isn't measured in numbers. It isn't found in nothing but positive feedback. Our impact is found in helping others find their way to Christ. You cannot make me believe that gaining a million followers by saying what's popular is more special and more meaningful than sharing His truth that turns one person away from sin and helps them avoid the eternal suffering that they we're running toward. It's not even close! That's why we need to stop worrying about all the worldly things and start living for something more than that.

When we devote our lives to living for Christ we will make a difference. And while that difference may not be lauded by the masses it will be massive to those that are changed for the better because of it. We each have a chance to live for something that will matter forever. 70, 80, 100 years seems like a very long time. But when measured against eternity, it's a vapor my friends! So please don't spend life worrying about serving yourself, this world, or the temporary things that we often idolize. God has done more for us than we could possibly hope for. The least we can do is spend our time here living in a way that shows our appreciation and helps those around us see that He has done the same for them!

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