It never ceases to amaze me all of the things of life that people feel are important, find someone to love, have children, raise them, play with the grandchildren, then die with happy memories. Make sure the alarm clock is set, get up, go to work, for fifty years while you accumulate all of those items of the world, enjoy them, then die. Work your way to the top of the ladder, shake the right hands, cover your lies, become the head of an entire nation, reap all the rewards of it, then die. “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (Eccl. 1:14)
Problem is, most of them will not realize these truths, they will continue on in their little mundane, repetitive lives, fulfilling their supposed important obligations, trying to find some form of happiness, some semblance of contentment. They will muddle through the bad times, continuing their trek towards what they hope is a long life, and not one of them will live a life worthy of any meaning. “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.” (Prov. 10:7)
I could say that I’m speaking about your neighbor, but I might be talking about you, you keep looking for happiness, for someone to recognize you, to accept you, and for a short periods of time you feel better about yourself, you feel like life has a purpose, a meaning and unless you realize these truths today, everything in your life will be vanity and vexation of Spirit.
I believe that most people who profess Christ as Lord lead these exact lives, serving Him is important to them, but making sure they’re not late for work is more important, or can be placed in the same category of their value system. They don’t have time to speak to that sick friend, the kids have to be at school, family showed up on Saturday, “Do you think we should call the pastor and tell him we won’t be there tomorrow?” They have been wanting to read the Book of Daniel again, but that mini-series starts tomorrow on channel ten, and by the time its over, its time to go to bed, “Don’t forget to set the alarm clock, dear.”
If you have determined to serve Christ, then you have been crucified, you are dead to all of your wants and desires outside of Christ, you are now a slave. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20) If you will not determine this verse to be true, if you are not giving all that you are and all that He asks of you to Him, then you may not be saved, even unprofitable servants do all that is required of them. (Luke 17:10)
It does not matter how much this world pulls at you, it does not matter if all your friends and family desert you, it does not matter the circumstances or the possible consequences to yourself. You are not here to please mankind, you are not here to make friends with the world, to earn a good income, to have a nice house and a happy family, you are here to serve, that is what a slave does, serve. If you don’t like what the Lord has you doing at this time, that’s too bad, serve, if it means leaving everyone behind that you know and love, serve, if it means a life of poverty, pain, travails, and trouble, find yourself in the best company, for that was the life of Christ. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3)
I can pretty much guarantee that everything that you think is important in this life is not, it is vanity and vexation of Spirit, and until you realize that, until you are truly crucified with Christ, your life will only revolve around you, and what you think is important.
