This blog will continue the sermon from the singles pastor at my church that I started discussing yesterday. The same two questions apply for evaluating your life:
Question 1: Are you wasting your life?
Question 2: Is your life worth wasting?
The sermon continues by discussing one other Latin phrase that would challenge a Christian to begin living a more radical life for Christ.
Quid Pro Quo–This for That
Matthew 16:24-27
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.””
Jesus calls us to live a radical life and to give up our selfish desires and in place to pick up our crosses and walk along side of Him. This passage really convicts my heart of the little things I seem to “give up my soul for” without even realizing it, whether it be material possessions or a night out with the girls. Every action I partake in is a symbol of the witness I have created for myself and other Christians alike.
Being a disciple of Christ DEMANDS a radical and personal exchange-> this for that
* Your life for His
* This life for the Next
* Your desires for His Commandments
Here are some examples to bring the reality of Quid Pro Quo home for some of you:
~Vacation time for missions trip
~TV time for prayer time
~5% for 50%
~Possession for people
~Skills for ministry
~Food for fasting
~Time for tasks
~Self for submission
“Oh Lord, help me understand my mortality and the brevity of life!
Let me realize how quickly my life will pass! Look, you make my days short-lived, and my life span is nothing from your perspective.
Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor.
Surely people go through life as mere ghosts.
Surely they accumulate worthless wealth without knowing who will eventually haul it away?
But now, O Lord, upon what I am relying?
You are my only hope!”
Psalm 39:4-7
In these next days please think about your life and if you are truly living as if God is your ONLY hope…
My prayer for you is that you will come to realize that the minor sacrifices we make everyday are nothing compared to the greatest sacrifice of all…Christ giving up His life so that we could one day walk in paradise with His Father! I pray that you will find areas in your life where you can trade this for that and always pursue the kingdom of God.
Are you wasting your life?
