His Sake Or Yours?

As individual Christians, do we wander through life as Israel did for forty years in the wilderness, or do we have a purpose and goal that we strive toward every day like the Apostle Paul?

Even when we knock off the “to do list” – go to church, read the Bible, pray, and so on – those things can melt into a routine without a driving purpose.

Even the Apostle Paul needed to keep moving forward in his Christian life. Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

He had not apprehended; in other words, Paul had more to accomplish, and he still had room for improvement. Because of that, he pressed on, answering the call of Christ in his life. We all have a long way to go if Paul still had room for improvement.

We all need to improve by starting to live for God instead of ourselves. Three verses in James illustrate this point. The verses are together, but we will look at them one verse at a time and then put them all together.

James 4:13, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:”

Here are people making a business decision. They make a product and are either expanding or possibly have saturated the market where they are, so they are ready to move to another town and make money there.

Even if you are not a business owner, many Christians face this type of decision every day. Do I get a new job? Do we pick up and move for the promise of a bigger paycheck at a new place?

James 4:14, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

God is reminding us that we can make plans for the future, but there are circumstances beyond our control, and the most powerful of those circumstances is death. My sister died at 26. The best man at our wedding died at 24. I have preached at the funerals of infants, people in their nineties, and a multitude of ages in between. We all know of those who have died young and others who lived long, long lives. The truth of the matter is simply this: the only day we can guarantee for ourselves is today, and we do not even have the guarantee that we will see the end of today.

James 4:15, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”

Remember how this passage started with people wanting to go to another town for a year, sell their goods, and make a profit? God is not saying it is a sin to be someone with plans to make some money, but He is reminding us here that God’s will should be the determining factor when we do make plans. Again, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”

Could the reason we settle into a rut, or have our life crumbling down all around us, or that we have that nagging feeling that there must be more be because we have been living our lives for our sakes and not His?

Old Testament Israel is a physical example of the spiritual truths of the New Testament church age. God tells Israel something amazing in Ezekiel 36:22, “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.”

As we make decisions throughout life, not just the big life-changing choices but the everyday ones as well: what we eat, wear, how we spend our relaxation time, whatever we do (1 Corinthians 10:31), do we ask, “Is this for God’s sake, or is it for mine?”

Do we have pet sins that we refuse to give up? If we choose not to repent of them, we are placing our sake above His. We often rationalize our sins. “It’s not that big of a thing.” “Everyone else does it.” “No one can tell me what to do in the privacy of my own home.” “I enjoy doing this.” “I’ve been doing this for years.” I don’t need to continue listing our reasons; you understand.

Christian, if we live our lives for God’s sake instead of our own, our lives will contain constant joy and peace even in the hardest of times instead of the short moments of happiness that our lives consist of now.

How do we live for His sake?

Live by faith. It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6; Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

Study the Bible and allow it to change your heart (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:22-25),

Become a living sacrifice and transform your mind so that you can know the will of God for your life (Romans 12:1-2).

The choice is now yours.