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How you spend your money and time will tell you who you’re living for. A lot of people these days would call Christians foolish for living for God instead of for themselves. If we were honest, many of us are not living all out for Jesus. But as Christian, we must become less, and Jesus must become greater, just like how John the Baptist realized this:
John 3:30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
God Wants Our All
God wants people who are all out for him because he went all out for us. Going all out for Jesus means we need to do three things: deny ourselves, take up our cross daily as we die to our old selves, and follow Jesus.
Luke 9:23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”
When you try to live for yourself, you’ll lose your life.
Luke 9:24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
That’s the irony of it. You gain everything when you give everything up and live for Christ, but from the world’s perspective, you look like a fool.
Following Jesus gives purpose and meaning to life. You’ll never regret giving up your life to get on mission with Jesus. Living for him gives you something much greater than yourself to live for.
- What is your initial reaction to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- Who is the most selfish person you know? Who is the most selfless person you know? Which one seems happier?
- Take the test. How do you spend your money? How do you spend your time? Take a minute to chart it out. What does it say about you? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you live for yourself?
- Read John 3:30. What is one practical way you can make Jesus greater in your everyday life?
- Read Luke 9:23. What do you think it means to “deny yourself”? Think about someone in your life who does that well. Have you ever denied yourself?
- After winning the Superbowl, quarterback Troy Aikman said, “Is this all there is to life?” What would you have said to him in response? What is the thing you are chasing after that will leave you empty?
- Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
