Have you ever wanted something so bad that you felt like you would give up
nearly anything to get it? There are many pleasures in this life that will tell
you that they can give you fulfillment or happiness or meaning. But I believe
that each and every one of us have reached that point where we finally get
"that" something that we want, only to discover that all it ultimately held for
us was disappointment. And so we move on to the next thing, and then the next, and
the next. And some of us are left wondering is there even a purpose to our
lives?
Did you know that God understands that we need fulfillment?
It is how He created us, and He did not leave us without an answer.
God has given us the answer to a fulfilled life, and that answer is found
in a promise.
But it is a promise that sometimes we do not want to hear. In Matthew 16:25
Jesus says, "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for My sake will find it."
Some of us are engaged in such a determined pursuit of a fulfilling life
that we are passing right by the only One who can truly give us life.
The issue is not that life is a bad thing.
God desires us to have life and life to the full.
However, the issue is that some of us have made life a bigger thing than Jesus.
We have chosen the pursuit of life over the pursuit of Christ. The question Jesus
is asking us in Matthew 16:25 is, "What am I worth to you?"
What is Jesus worth to you and me?
He made it very clear what we were worth to Him when He gave up His life for us
in a horribly tragic and painful way. He made it very clear what we were worth to
Him when He allowed Himself to be crucified for something He did not do—
for something we did. Galatians 2:20 is a powerful statement that we as believers
need to live by. It says, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
A life of pursuit after Jesus is a life of friendship with Him. When we choose to
seek Him first, He fills us with His Holy Spirit and He lives in us. When that
happens, we are no longer looking to receive life from the things we see or
the things we can get. Once that happens, we are walking in the life that He provides.
And that is a life worth living.