Are we after gaining Christ or our own selfish desires? May we pursue things so we may gain Christ alone. Only Jesus is worthy of our love and devotion,
I personally needed a heart check. Why am I doing what I’m doing? Why am I posting videos about Jesus and even sharing my Single but in a Relationship with God book?
I started with pure motives, as I felt the Lord call me to teach His word and encourage people to follow Jesus, but as I started seeing other people’s successes and followings on social media, the world’s ways started to influence my heart.
I was no longer posting purely to gain Christ (please Jesus), but to increase my own influence and following to feel “successful”.
I was confronted with Philippians 3:8, which says, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
The Holy Spirit convicted my heart as I read Philippians 3:8. “Why are you doing what you are doing?”
I had to ask myself, am I posting and doing what I am doing to gain Christ or to gain my own influence?
I was reminded why I wrote the Single but in a Relationship with God book in the first place and why I pursued Living Revelations. It was out of a place to please the Lord by obeying and sharing my testimony to encourage others.
I wrote the book and pursued Living Revelations to gain Christ.
Why are you following Jesus? Is it to gain Christ, or to gain your own selfish desires?
Set Your Affections on Things Above
Living an accomplished life and obtaining things is not bad, but when it becomes our sole desire above pleasing Jesus, we have now sinned against the Lord and created an idol in our hearts.
Only Jesus is worthy of our worship. In the age to come, there will only be One seated on the throne who is to be worshipped, and that is Jesus. If we want to produce godliness in our lives, we must set our affections (thoughts) on things above, and not on things on the earth.
God tells us in Colossians 3:2, “Set your affections on things above, not on things on earth.” Your affections will follow where your thoughts go.
What do you think about a lot throughout the day? What you consume more of is what you will desire more of.
If we are constantly filling our thoughts with worldly things, that is what we will desire and spend our time and money on. For example, if we are consumed with looking good and finding a partner, that is all we will be obsessed about. If we keep looking at the nicest car models or homes that exist, that is all we will want and find our contentment in.
While having nice things, looking good, and finding a partner is not a bad thing, God does call us to live sober-minded and alert of the devil’s schemes. We can easily fall into idolatry and put other things above Jesus when our affections are set on the wrong things.
Jesus invites us to serve him with fervency, and to remember that this world is temporary, but what is to come is eternal.
If we are fixed only on our own success and worldly desires, we can never be about Jesus and His desires. Ecclesiastes 5:15 says, “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.” The things of this world will fade away.
May we focus on investing in eternal things and for our earthly accomplishments to bear fruit towards eternity and result in saved souls.
Make this your heart cry: “Let your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
Will you set your affections on Jesus and what is to come? God has a purpose for your life, and it can only be found as we choose to set our affections on Jesus and what is to come.
Follow Jesus
To follow Jesus will not be easy. There’s a reason why Paul says “I press on” in Philippians 3:14.
Paul says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). The word, “press on” means to suffer persecution.
Following Jesus will not be the popular way (the world’s way), and we will be mocked and persecuted for choosing Jesus, but the prize set before us is greater than any suffering we may face here on earth.
May we live awake and sober-minded, not giving in to temporary worldly pleasures, but instead looking towards eternity with Jesus.
Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Eternal pleasures are only found as we give our lives to following Jesus.
Are you living with the end in mind? Will you say yes to following Jesus no matter the cost?
We all live in fleshly bodies that are slaves to sin, but when we receive Jesus into our lives, His Spirit lives in us, and we become a new creation, no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:17-18).
Every day we must choose to deny our fleshly desire, take up our cross, and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24).
Be filled with the Holy Spirit daily. Put off the old man and choose to live with eternity in mind, beholding God’s Word (Jesus) daily. Our reward is not in this earth, but in the age to come when Jesus comes back.
Be Faithful to God
Faithfulness is more than just doing the right things. Faithfulness starts at a heart level. For example, we can be married and stay committed to our spouse, but unfaithful at heart.
It’s impossible to be faithful without Jesus. Our flesh by nature is fallen by sin. Apart from Jesus, we all have the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that is not of God (1 John 2:16).
In Christ, however, we become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). God says in Ezekiel 36:26-27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
Only God can create in us a singleness of heart and action, so that we will always fear God (Jeremiah 32:39). It is healthy to allow the Holy Spirit to check our hearts and stay unspotted from the world.
God tells us in James 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
We need to check our hearts daily and make sure we are not pursuing anything out of selfish desire. Just because we started off purely loving Jesus does not mean our hearts cannot stray from Him.
Though we live in this world, may we continue to live set apart from the world, loving Jesus and others purely to gain Christ. So remember, make it your goal to gain Christ.
Prayer: Jesus, only You are worthy of our love, devotion, and worship. Search our hearts and reveal any areas where our affections have drifted away from You. Help us to set our minds on things above and to live with eternity in mind. May our greatest desire be to gain Christ and to live for Your glory alone. Let Your kingdom come, and Your will be done in our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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