• Devotional,  Faith

    Who Are You Living For?

    Last Sunday at church, I heard one of the most transformative messages I’ve heard in a long time. I’ve been thinking about it all week and it has really changed the way I’ve lived this week. I knew right away that I wanted to share it with you guys. I’ve just been working on how to best put it into words. And if I’m being honest, I wanted to see if it actually “stuck” in my own life before telling you guys how great the message was. But it definitely has stuck and I find myself thinking about it at least a couple of times a day.

    The sermon was about worshipping and how we are commanded by God to worship him. My pastor explained how we are commanded to worship God, not out of obligation, but because God knows that it is for our good.

    He also explained how worshipping isn’t quite what we think it is sometimes. We think we are worshipping when we are singing to God, praying to Him, or just maybe even thinking about Him. My pastor explained how we are always worshipping something. Even though I knew this fact before, he explained it in such a different way that it really turned on a light for me.

    He explained that whenever we are doing something, we are always doing it for a reason. Sometimes I believe we don’t actually consciously think about who or why we are actually doing something, but if we stop and really dig deep we can figure out the reason behind the action.

    My pastor also explained how if we are doing anything that isn’t for God first, then we will eventually burn out or the thing will ultimately let us down because we were not meant to live for anything other than God. God has already shown that he lived for us, and in turn we are meant to live for him. It is the only thing that will truly satisfy our souls.

    So for me personally, I realized that I was living much more for my husband than I was for God. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to live for God but I kind of felt like my husband cared more for the things I was doing than God did. (How ridiculous.) I used to have maybe one or two productive days but then feel burnt out because I didn’t feel like what I was doing mattered. I knew that my husband appreciated my efforts around the house, but he couldn’t possibly notice and care for every little thing that I did and it left me feeling like what I was doing was pointless.

    After hearing that sermon, I repented of that and have been finding myself praying in the morning and asking God to show me how I can live for Him that day. Honestly, I usually end up doing the same thing that I would have been doing “for my husband” but instead I’m doing it for God first then my husband. So in the end I’m not upset or wondering what the point is when my husband doesn’t notice because I know that God has and He is proud of me.

    I hope that all of that makes sense. Living for God in all of my actions (or at least as many as I can) has changed everything. I don’t push myself to overdo it because I know that God cherishes me and wants me to work hard, but also wants me to rest. If you are interested in hearing the sermon I’m talking about I will link that here. My pastor did a lot better job at explaining this than I did. 😉