Am I doing this for God or for eternal safety?

For what reason am I following the Lord? For what reason are we following the Lord? Immediately in everyone's mind there pops up two reasons: “For the love and glory of God” or “so I don't go to hell”. I asked myself this very question and I thought on it. Ask yourself this question as well. For a person who is just doing things for their eternal survival doesn't look like someone who really loves God. In the end they aren't doing things just for the love and respect of the Lord but they are just actually doing it for themselves. Sometimes deep inside they appear to actually like the worldly lusts but is just afraid of going to hell for them. Jesus Christ said “whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, but he who shall lose his life for My sake shall find it everlasting”.

When I pondered about the question I looked into my life. I remembered both walking closely in the world and then walking closely with God. And then I asked myself; “Who would I rather be glorious in?”. Immediately the answer was God. I might have been a combination of God's wisdom showing me what the world was like or me seeing the world firsthand, but I knew who I'd rather be rich in.


What about the World?

Let's tally it all up for a minute, when we were in the world and indulging in the evils of it, what did it bring us? For most of us, it was just a bunch of quick fixes that ended up making us feel trapped in something. This is called “the Pleasures of the World”. We would do these evils for the urge but then we felt this ever tightening nose around our neck that binded us to that evil. Remember how miserable we felt those days waking up or those nights at home. When problems arose, all we had was that quick fix which wouldn't solve anything except bring us deeper in despair. Then came the torture of the inevitable. There came the knowledge that no matter how much we indulged in this sin, to help us forget our troubles, the eventual troubles wouldn't go away. It was like squeezing water from a rock. It's almost as if we would cling to our sin, thinking it would save us from our trouble, when in reality it only held us in place while our trouble came to crush us. During our walk with the world and the pleasures thereof, all we got as a result was anxiety, panic, and depression. The world was really like a trip to Vegas. You came in happy, confident and couldn't wait to indulge in it. But by the time you left, you were tired, lost, and broke!

Then there are some of us who used to have the world's wealth or “the Riches of the World”. Some of us had mounds of money, but eventually that money came to own us instead. We had to work so hard for it, we had to trick our way to it, or we had to put aside everything for the making of it. There were some who couldn't spend time with their loved ones because they were always in and out trying to get the cash. Worst of all there were some of us who got the money illegally. When we did illegal acts to get the money we lost our soul to being evil men who hated God and his fellow man for the sake of riches. We became filthy rich (that pun was very much intended). Most of all, we missed out on the beauty God wanted to show us, because we were worshiping our money instead. Pretty soon the means we got the money, whether legally or illegally, dominated our thinking and our lives. We no longer cared about family and friends. We only cared about how to get our next bundle of cash and then how to keep our bundle of cash. Our eyes were fixated on our money like a magnet. Thus money became the god of our lives. The riches of the world enslaved us just like the pleasures of the world did. And like the pleasures of the world, the riches of the world offered it's own anxieties. So if the person who worshiped their fortune, were to suddenly lose it, they would also sink into despair. Once you got it, you had to worry about keeping it too. So everyone remember when you harvested in the world which fades away. Remember how it gave you back nothing in the end, and how it didn't save you from anything. Having everything...yet we are poor. That is what it's like to be of the world. When you are in the world, there is only one place to go...and that's down.

Still don't believe me? Let's look at some prominent people in the world, then apply some of the stuff I mentioned above to their life. Look at some celebrities for example. They make millions of dollars and have plenty of fame, but what goes on behind the scenes from stuff we don't see. Britney Spears is rich, she owns mansions, she has lots of fans, but look at how the world is treating her in the end. She can't breath without someone flashing pictures of her even in privacy. The entire news sticks in her private matters between her husband and family. People out for a buck take advantage of her and take pictures of her in bad situations. Now everyone is calling her crazy because she sometimes wants to break down from all the stresses that chain her down. Look at some political leaders. Yeah they hold a lot of power in the world, yet what is their life really like in secret? They all have to be apart of dark fraternities that make their entire lives devoted to the orders of underground institutions. If they don't comply, they get killed off or have their name slandered. And when they are forced to do something that they didn't want to do, they get blamed by the entire population. However these are just examples of even the greatest amongst the world still gets everything taken from them. The world gives nothing freely, it only takes everything from you in the end.


God however was always good

Now let's take a look at God. When we came to God most of us were broken from the world. We saw how the world left us with nothing but addictions, debts, anger, betrayal and everything else under the sun. At that moment we came to God remember how it felt as if a warm blanket was thrown over you while you were freezing cold.

That day we came unto the Lord, we felt great! For the first time all of our troubles blew away with the wind. We knew that no matter how shaky this world was going to get, God was always going to shield us from it. For the first time, we actually had a friend who would listen to and understand everything that we couldn't talk about with others! This is what God was to us. He was the ultimate friend, protector, lover, champion, helper, strengthener, and listener. It was amazing. Finding Lord Jesus Christ was beyond our most fantastic dreams. And even still, the Lord had more and more to show us! To the person reading this, didn't you feel it too with Jesus Christ? You know you did!

Do you recollect, my friend, how when we came to Jesus Christ and challenged the previously unchallengeable? I know that when Christ placed the Holy Spirit in me, I overcame and challenged everything that feared me in the past. I saw strength build inside of me that I never seen before. I was stronger, better, and bolder. All of this came from God. It was His Spirit that nurtured me and allowed me to buckle chains of steel.

The Lord likened His kingdom to a mustard seed that grew. When you first came to Christ my friend that seed was just in sprout. When His time comes, it will be as a fully grown tree. So if you and me rejoiced when we saw this tree just in sprout, imagine when we see it become a tree (The full Kingdom of Heaven). Meditate on this my friends.

Imagine those knight and barbarian posters from the 80s. They usually depicted this muscular triumphant warrior standing on a mountain peak with his sword raised on high. While his sword was raised up, bolts of lighting would strike it and empower it from the heavens. This is what it is like to be in the Lord. This is what I felt when I was in the Lord; utter empowerment---fearlessness where there was once fear. These are improvements the world has never given us. The Lord supplied you with spiritual armor to stand against the devils tricks, but the world never gave you any such protection. If we turn our back on the Lord, we turn our back on the most beautiful glorious thing we will ever bear witness to.

Another thing that came to me is that the Lord's kingdom, both the 1000 year and New Jerusalem, is how life is supposed to be like. What we live in now is the world's alternative life filled with war, hatred and perversity. But you can only wonder what will it be like in the Lord's Kingdom when you see things for what they should be like. Obviously things of God will be greater than things of the world. And also will mentalities pleasing to God be more superior than mentalities of the world. Meditate on this....

If ever any of you feel like going back into the world, I want you to remember how enslaved you felt before. Remember how its pleasures only made you feel a high for a minute and then dragged you down into pain and hell. Also remember how much glory the Lord showed you when you first came to Him and how much more He wants to share with you.

What we do for Jesus Christ and His glory will be the part of us that lasts eternally. Everything of the world won't go on for long. But God who is eternal and the things of His glory thereof will last beyond time. That is the part of us that will go on for eternity; the Christ with us. Let us rejoice with this news. Let us be happy that all that glory, safety, strength, love and peace you felt when you came to Him will last permanently. And that all those beautiful things which God is, shall always be eternal. Now the next time you ask yourself the question “Am I doing this for God's glory or for my own eternal safety?”, I want you to look back and remember your walk with both. Most of all remember which one was the one who actually saved you. So answer it truthfully and don't just say it thinking you can fool the Lord. Let your works reflect the one you really love. God is not a child who can be fooled with an empty shell. God bless you and keep you.