BY LARALOVE
“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23
“And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:27
“and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Cor. 5:15
“You doing well?” I essentially asked the young man behind the store cash register. “Having a good day?”
“Living the dream,” he said.
“So are you living your dream or the Lord’s dream for your life?” I asked him.
His response was quick. “Just trying to enjoy my life,” he effectively said.
Maybe I’m getting old. Or already old. It’s all relative. But that’s a new one for me. Maybe it’s the younger generation. I’ve heard several people respond to my asking how they are with that statement. Living the dream. But what dream are they living? What dream are you and I living?
The young man’s words were pretty telling, weren’t they? That’s exactly how I lived for decades. Living MY dream. For MY enjoyment. For MY pleasure. For MY satisfaction. For ME. For SELF.
The young man didn’t acknowledge God. No concern for God. No care for God. No thought of God. Not sure if he believed or not. I left him with a Gospel tract. That’s all the Lord placed on my heart to do in the very few minutes we crossed paths with each other.
But what about you and me? Truth is for some years I called Jesus Christ Lord but continued to live for ME. For SELF. For MY DREAM. But the Spirit of God began to teach me the Word of God and how God calls us to live. To DENY SELF. To LIVE FOR CHRIST.
God created us to be in His fellowship forever, to experience Him, to enjoy Him, to surrender our lives to Him, to love and worship Him now and for eternity. We’re all sinners hell-bound whom God loves so much He sent Christ to the cross to bear our sin penalty upon Himself so all who turn from our sins to faith in Christ as Lord and truly devote our lives to God and His ways are forgiven and enter into His glorious fellowship forevermore.
We are no longer to live for self! We are to live for Christ! We are no longer to live for OUR dreams. We are to live according to GOD’S WAYS according to GOD’S WILL according to GOD’S DREAMS for us for GOD’S GLORY!
And the temporary pleasure of living for self is NOTHING compared with the forever unfathomable love and joy and peace and contentment and thrill and ecstasy of being with Jesus forever and of living to love and glorify God forevermore!
Today I’m at long last living God’s dreams for my life. It comes with a cost. A high one. It hurts the flesh to deny self and what self desires. But I wouldn’t trade this life for anything. I wouldn’t take back my self-centered dreams for anything. Because nothing in the world, friend, compares with the blessedness of loving and worshiping and communing with and glorifying Jesus forevermore!
Whose dreams are you living? Yours? Or are you living for Christ?
Courtesy of DAILY INSPIRATION
