Whom am I living for?

                                                  

Every one has to live for something or somebody desperately otherwise there is no meaning for life! That something or somebody invariably becomes the most important thing in our lives and we focus our attention and energy very much in attaining affirmation, security and significance from this. Knowingly or unknowingly this becomes the Lord of our lives and we begin to live for it!

As we explore this together we have to think for a minute the personal consequences of sin. In several ways sin has destroyed us personally and we try to find our self-worth in something or somebody apart from God. In our contemporary individualistic culture, we try to get our self-worth in our achievements, or social status, talents, or in our education or love relationships or in power and position. In a traditional Asian culture, very often self-worth is measured in terms of the identity that comes from fulfilling duties to families or giving service to societies. It is strange some times to think even that we love ourselves too much and we want affirmation and significance from something.

If anything threatens our identity we are anxious and paralyzed with fear and we go through tremendous pain within us without victory. Very often we crucify ourselves between the regrets of our past and the fear of the future and we begin to worship ourselves. We are very good at turning good things into ‘ultimate things’ and if our identity is not based on God, this can eventually turn into a deep form of addiction. In other words if we take our self-worth from achievements, family or work apart from God, they enslave us. The good things become the god-substitutes in our lives because our heart’s love become inordinate and we fall into patterns of life that are like ‘substance addiction’.  This situation can give rise to uncontrollable anguish if anything goes wrong in the above life pattern.

Let us look briefly what Apostle Paul is writing to the believers at Philippi when he was imprisoned at Rome. “Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:  circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 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  and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,  if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind”; Phil 3:4-16.

When one’s life is not centered on God, it is centered on self and this eventually will lead to emptiness and hurt however successful one may be. This in itself is sin and it has serious social consequences and also devastating effects on the world system. Dorothy Sayers an English writer saw many British intellectual elites in despair about the direction of human society at the wake of World War 11. In her book on ‘Creed or Chaos’ in 1947, she mentioned that their hopelessness was due to their loss of belief in the Christian Doctrine of “Original Sin” and humanity’s inherent pride and self-centeredness. Human society can become deeply fragmented when God the author of the Universe is substituted by ‘other gods’.   

St. Augustine once said, if there is a God who created us then the deepest chambers of our souls cannot be filled by anything less than God. If Jesus Christ is God incarnate then by definition nothing can satisfy us like what He could do in our deepest parts of our souls. Then the author of glory becomes our significance, security and affirmation and He becomes that ‘Someone’ for whom we live for!

                                        

Book References:

1.Payer To Move Your Mountains, “Powerful Prayers for The Spirit-Filled Life.” (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 2000)

2. Practical Psychology for Pastors, William R. Miller, Kathleen A. Jackson (The University of Mexico), second Edition, Prentice –Hall Inc, 1995,1985, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458.

3. Jay E.Adams, ‘The Christian Counselor’s Manual, ‘The Practice of Nouthetic Counseling’ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973)

4. John G. Kruis, ‘Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling; (Grand rapids: Baker Books, Third edition, p. 169-170)

5.David G. Benner & Peter C. Hill, ‘Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling’ Second Edition, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1985, 1999)

6.Dr. Larry Crabb, “Effective Biblical Counseling” How Caring Christians can Become Capable Counselors, (Hammersmith: Marshall Pickering, 1985), p. 100-104)

7.The Matthew Henry Study Bible, ‘King James version’ The best of Matthew Henry’s Notes in a Handy One Volume Reference Bible, World Bible Publishers, Inc; 1994, Iowa Falls, U.S.A.

8. David Seeking A Heart Like His, ‘Beth Moore’ Life Way Christian resources, Nashville, Tennessee, 2010, pgs: 206-210.

9.Jay E. Adams, ‘Critical Stages of Biblical Counseling’ Finishing Well, Breaking Through, Getting Started, (New Jersey: Zondervan, 2002)

10.Jay E. Adams, ‘How to Help People Change’ The Four-step Biblical Process, (Grand rapids: Zondervan, 1986)

11.John F. MacArthur, JR. Wayne A. Mack & The Master’s College Faculty, ‘Introduction To Biblical Counseling’, “A Basic Guide To The Principles And Practice Of Counseling”(Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers,1994)

12.Jay E. Adams, ‘Lectures on Counseling’ (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978, p.192-203)

13.The Holy Bible, New King James version, Women of Destiny Bible, “Women Mentoring women Through the Scriptures” A Spirit Filled Life Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, Copyright 1982.

14. Deuteronomy becoming Holy People, Stephen D. Eyre, p:32-26; IVP connect, An imprint of Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 1998, 2004.

15. Metzeger, Bruce M. (ed); Michael D. Coogan (ed) (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504645-5.

16. Mitchell, Stephen, 1987. The Book of Job. San Francisco: North Point Press. Cited in R. T. Pennock, 1999, Tower of Babel, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

17. Stormie Omartin, “The power of a praying wife”, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene 97402; copyright @1997; pgs81-85.

18. Timothy keller, ‘The Reason for God” Belief in an age of Skepticism, Published by Penguin Group, USA, New York 10014, Copyright,@ 2008; pgs:155-175.

Website References:

  1. Love me for who I am - A Poem

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1 Apr 2012 – ... but what make my life worth living for are those people who believe in me after knowing my imperfection. ... Love me for who I am - A Poem ...

 2. Living, Not A Moment Wasted: My Last Poem For Who Knows How ...

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18 Apr 2012 – A poem I wrote a while back, kinda to God, that it's not enough to write and talk, but I need to not be a hypocrite and actually live it out. So here ...

 3."It is the living who cannot" by Hilda Morley : The Poetry Foundation

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It is the living who cannot / live without the dead, / who wish them / back,

 4. John Keats Quotes (Author of The Complete Poems)

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There are many today who are reflecting on the loved ones they have lost … on 9/11 and on on any other day. This year has been a year of loss in our family.

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Is there for honesty poverty / That hings his head, an' a' that; / The coward slave - we pass him by, / We dare be poor for a' that! / For a' that, an' a' that, / Our toils ...

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25+ items – A selection of poetry of faith, hope, endurance, and ...

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 8. A Year of Living Poetically: Poetry Memorization Guide mensaforkids.com/poetry/MFK-Poetry-all.pdf

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property of the originating entities. A Year of Living Poetically: Poetry Memorization Guide. A long time ago, memorizing poetry was par for the course in school.

 9. Short Love Poems - "He Loves Me", "love is strange" and other I ...

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My Love For You - short I Love You poems for singles and married. ... that won't let me live. There's pain in my life only you can relief. I'm so glad it was you ...

 10. When Love Begins, Falling in Love Poem

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Rating: 4.6 - 607 votes

Falling in Love Poem, When Love Begins, Love Poems, This poem is about a ... go back to acting the way he did while we were living together and first married.

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