What are you living for

I only remember the refrain of a country(?) song from several years back; it went:

What am I living for, if not for you?

Baby, nobody else, nobody else, will do.

I would like to ask you today, what are you living for? I know we all have varied responsibilities and tasks in our lives, but what is the foundation of your life? To whom could you sing the above chorus? Who, or what, is number 1 to you?

The Bible admonishes each of us to work, love, show benevolence and mercy, etc., as part of our daily lives, but sometimes these and many other things become our lives. Even our families, though they are to be first among earthly relations, are not to be the driving force behind, or the main goal of, our lives.

A few verses to show what/who we are to be living for:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness." (Matthew 6:33

"And whosever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." (John 11:26

Jesus said- "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." (John 4:34

I know there are many reasons that make this matter extremely important. Let me give you one that is personal to you.

None of us can be totally focused on God, or anything, for that matter, every minute of every day, because we are still tied to the weak and sinful flesh. Two examples of this are: (1) on my job, (shut your eyes and skip this part, boss) there are times when my mind drifts to home or something else. (2) When I taught firearms/driving/baton/, in my first career, I tried to instill in our officers the need to practise, practise, practise, and; to attempt to do things in the right and proper way as often as possible. I did this because, as I told them, nobody can stay on "high alert" all the time. I told them that everyone's mind drifts, wanders, or whatever you want to call it, but; if they have tried to remain focused on doing things the right way, when they do drift and something happens, they are much more likely to respond "instinctively" in the correct way. In other words, if they have made "doing things the right way" a high priority, they will most likely react that way when things "go bad." Things are going to happen in our lives that we "don't expect" and "aren't prepared for." If we have been living for something other than God, we are not going to respond in the right way. We will waste time trying to use our "strengths" and "resources" to solve the problem. After we've run up against the wall, we will finally remember to look to God, or, worse; we will practise "fox-hole religion," and make promises we probably aren't going to keep.

Would you set aside some time to examine your self (and ask God for His help in doing it) to determine; What are you living for?