There is this great old Dudley Moore movie called Arthur. Arthur was a rich 30 something drunk who was taken care of by his butler, Hobson, played by Sir John Gielgud. When asked to run a bath for Arthur, Hobson responds sarcastically, “It’s what I live for.”
Ever since then, it has been a running joke between Julie and I when either of us ask the other to do something menial. Would you like to take out the trash? It’s what I live for. Usually said with a snear.
But, seriously, what do we live for? What is it that moves us? What do our energies focus on? This is the central question that Jesus asks us. What are we living for?
Most of the time we don’t even have to think about it. Life just demands that we live for so many things. Our children. Our jobs. Our houses. Our sports. Our bodies. Our wives or husbands. Our friends. Our music.
We acknowledge that these are good things but they don’t seem to fully fill that part in us that needs filling. You know that part? You work and play and do the right thing and still there feels like there is something missing.
The wealthy and the famous seem to have it all and yet they medicate themselves to death (literally), or drink themselves into oblivion. The middle class family with a mortgage and 2.5 children seem happy but when you scratch the surface you find this black hole of dissatisfaction or despair.
Jesus says that this feeling comes from each of us not living up to God’s purpose for us. Read Matthew 6. Yes, the whole chapter. What else are you doing? He says that you don’t find your fulfillment in the good things in life. He says that you find it in living for Him.
Notice carefully the following words of Jesus. “… 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.” (Matthew 16:24,25).
We are designed to serve God. We are His children. We are His creation. He knows what the best life for us is. He says clearly that if you want to find life you have to lose it in submission to Him.
What are you living for? God says that it should be Him. When you start living for God, the things that you used to think were good get even better. Why? Because that is the way God designed it.
Church even gets better. When each of us is serving God rather than our own interests then church changes from and a religion into a family. Churches are full of Christians who are just proud, self-interested egotists. Yes, they are. Why else are there so many disputes? Read James 4:1-10 if you don’t believe me.
What are you living for? If it’s not God you have missed the point of being a Christian. If it’s not God you don’t stand much chance as a Christian. Rededicate yourself today to your Father. Choose to live for him and not yourself. Repeat with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). That is God’s plan for every single one of us.
