The answers to the questions of life can provide direction and clarity. In a recent teaching I shared five questions to ask yourself that reveal where you stand and what your priorities are in life.
The second question, Who am I going to live for today? can be answered in three ways:
- You can live for God.
- You can live for yourself.
Most of the world does, and frankly, we think that people who live for themselves aren’t unhappy, but the fact is many of the people living for themselves are very happy, humanly speaking. Now, there may be an emptiness in their soul in the quiet moments, but they’re not feeling what we think they should be feeling as a result of rejecting God. But people who live for themselves will eventually get to a point where self isn’t enough, and then they run into a wall. Then they’re forced to answer the questions, “Who am I really living for?” and “Why am I here?”
But the third way you can answer the question troubles me the most.
3. You can live for yourself and for God.
As believers, if we’re being honest, we tend to live for both ourselves and God. It’s easy to live for both in our culture today. Scripture refers to that as being double-minded.
The first chapter in the book of James talks about gaining wisdom. And James says, “… for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8 ESV).
God’s wisdom is no longer available when we put Him on mute!
When God’s wisdom is only one of many options we consider, and we don’t like what we hear, it’s easy to put God on mute. When we do that, He can’t speak to us and His wisdom is not going to be available to us.
Sometimes we believe we know better in some areas of our life than God does. We try to use our own wisdom in those areas. And when we do, it’s hard for us to hear when he wants to speak to us in other areas, even when we’re open. James is telling us, if you want God’s wisdom, you’ve got to be sold out.
All of us have been double minded at times. Some of the symptoms of being double minded include:
Seeking your own wisdom one time, and then God’s wisdom another time.
Being unable to decide or to stick with a decision.
Chronic indecision – torn between the desire to please the Lord or please yourself. Being double-minded causes stress, and that’s a good trigger to step back and start over.
Stress.
Confusion.
ONE THING
Award winner, author, transformational speaker and corporate trainer, Oscar Bimpong said, “If what you do TODAY will define your TOMORROW, then that means the FUTURE is NOW.”
What you’re doing today is a picture of what you will be tomorrow.
Every day becomes compounding in your life, and it’s either productive or discouraging – in your relationships, your health, your finances – every area of your life.
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (NIV).
So how will you honestly answer that question today? And what changes, if any, do you need to make to take God off mute?
In the next blog, How to Love God with Your Mind, we’ll look at how you can put your answer to the question, Why am I here? into practice.
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