Living To Please Christ

I want to ask you a few questions:

Who and what are you living for?  

Are you living for fame and fortune, prestige or popularity?  

What are your priorities in life?

My priority for years was self-gratification, doing my own thing, going my own way and, many times, just pleasing myself.  I had no real direction in life and no real priorities that I know of, that were positive.  Life was truly a struggle from one day to the next and I struggled with many addictions. Satan was my master and I served him well for many, many years living mostly in misery, sickness, pain and, like I said in past ‘tidbits,’ I was trying to escape reality.  It seemed as time went on most everything I touched turned to dust and dissipated into thin air and I seemed to be the big loser.  My heart seemed to turn to stone and I couldn’t get close to anyone, disliking and not trusting most people.  I had some encounters with the Lord through those years but they didn’t last long, probably more emotional than anything else.  As I am typing these things I want you to know I was always responsible for my actions and I am not trying to excuse myself by blaming anyone or anything else for my behavior, the choices I made were my own.  

Then one day everything started to change, the things I did, my actions and the way I thought were going through a radical change.  I had never experienced anything like it.  Some things seemed to change in a very short period of time although other things took a while longer, but I was becoming a new person like the Bible talks about when it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Of course I didn’t know this verse at the time, but that is what was happening in my life.  My perspectives and outlooks were changing, along with my actions, and I was becoming a new creation, having been sealed with the Holy Spirit and forgiven of my sins and covered by the precious blood of Jesus, praise the Lord!!  I remember being so hungry for the Word I couldn’t get enough of it, having Bibles fall apart, literally, because I read them so much.  I remember being so excited about what the Lord was doing, and had done, that I couldn‘t keep from sharing the Lord with most everyone I came in contact with.  

Before my conversion I had a seventh grade education and I hated school or anything to do with it, but after I had committed myself to the Lord, I got my G.E.D and even went to college for a short time leaving with a 3.0 average.  I didn’t get my college degree because I chose not to stay, for personal reasons.  I have no doubt that I would have gotten my degree, but I had one priority that outweighed a college degree.  I had an amazing experience with the Lord.  I had such a close relationship with the Lord it is hard to explain.  

You might think I am bragging, and I am, but not about me, I am bragging about the Lord.  I could go on and on sharing about what the Lord has done in and through me and my family over the last 30 plus years of my life, but that would make the jealous people angry that they haven’t experienced these things in their life.  I haven’t typed these things to make people angry but to provoke some people to jealousy.  The Word says this in Romans 11:11 about the Jews and the Gentiles salvation, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?  God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”

These blogs are read all over different parts of the world, praise the Lord, and for the most part I have no idea who reads them and they have no idea who types them, and that is the way I like it.  If anyone is blessed and helped by them, the Lord will get the glory and I am happy about that.  If anyone thinks I am bragging about myself, I have no reason to brag because of what I have experienced, these things can happen to anyone because God is not a respecter of persons.  To me this should be normal Christianity.  It hasn’t all been a bowl of cherries, sometimes it has felt like the pits, but the good times far outweigh the bad times, praise the Lord!  

So if you haven’t tried Jesus and your life is out of control with no purpose, turn to Him, repent and tell Him you’re sorry for your sins and asked Him to come in and be Lord of your life and to forgive you.  If you are sincere, you will become a new creation also and you will have a plan and purpose for your life and don’t be too surprised at what the Lord will do in you, and also in your family’s life, if you have one.  God bless and have a great day!!