Hey – It’s been awhile. This month has been interesting. Since my last blog: 1) I got a new car. 2) I got a new job. 3) I soft-launched my own business. 4) I picked up a few new clients for my new business. 4) I lasted an entire month here at Maranatha Baptist University.
5) I was the campaign manager for a presidential campaign for a friend of mine who ran for student body president here at MBU. Ironically 90% of that stuff happened in the last week…yeah, last week was exciting, to say the least.
But God’s been doing some awesome things in my life and it’s been exciting.
I was looking back on my blogs over the last several months and even to the very beginning. I noticed that 90% of them somehow were related to trusting in God and His plan for my life and I looked back and saw that I failed in like every aspect of trusting God every single time I was faced with a trial.
Looking back every single time I tried to patch myself up and move on but God kept breaking me and molding me in hopes that I would simply trust Him.
I’m still far from perfect but God’s been doing some really cool things and looking back I saw that He still loved me and took care of me even when I was fighting to do things my own way.
Everybody knows the verse/passage where Jesus gave the illustration of the master and his servants with the talents. The passage/story comes from Matthew 25 in which there is a master and he has these servants.
This master has three servants, to his first servant he gave five talents, to his second servant he gives two talents, to the third servant he gave one talent. The first two servants took those talents and invested them, exchanged them and multiplied their worth.
However, the last servant didn’t know what to do so he dug a hole and buried the talent until he needed to present his talent(s) to his master. Don’t worry this isn’t a spiritual gifts blog.
But I want you to think about something. I am going to assume that the third servant with the one talent knew about the other two servants and how they multiplied their talents. As he approached his master with nothing but what he was given.
He went face to face with his master with NOTHING.
In this passage, Jesus was describing our encounter with God before eternity. Over the last week, I’ve really been thinking about eternity, and honestly? I’m so overly excited. Coming face to face with the creator of the universe will be indescribable. My human brain cannot even fathom what that would be like.
But as excited as I am for that moment – I’m terrified. I know I’m saved and I know I’ll spend eternity in heaven but I want that single moment in front of God to be rejoiceful. I want to be able to look back and say “God I didn’t live for money or myself, I didn’t live for the pleasure of man.
God, I lived my life with this very moment in mind. ” Does this mean you’re in church every second of the day or witnessing to unbelievers every single moment of every day? No, that’s unrealistic. But to be able to stand in front of God and say “God I did it all…for you.
Here’s my life” Then these words come out of God’s voice. Imagine the most powerful, gentle, kind, caring, loving, tender, strong yet content and pleased voice say these words:
“Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”
Then you turn to your right and Jesus who was sitting right next to God this whole time stands up and to your right opens the door to heaven and you walk through into heaven being escorted by none other than the man who died for you: Jesus Christ.
Everything you did on earth was worth that very moment. For me? I want nothing more than to hear those words. Earlier I said I was terrified. Why? Because as badly as I want to use my life for God, sometimes I don’t live like it.
Imagine getting to God and meeting Him and even though you are a Christian your life is played before you and there is almost nothing that you have to present before Him. Imagine His disappointment, Imagine disappointing God, the creator of the universe and the man who created you.
I would hate more than anything to disappoint God. In the moment I get caught up in the moment chasing money, a better job, better friends, nicer and more expensive stuff.
But when it comes down that moment when you are face to face with God: the creator of the universe what does all of that count for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Romans 12:2 says: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
I love this verse for a lot of reasons but the biggest aspect of this verse is this phrase “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” Living for Christ is an everyday thing. Sure, commitments are great and it may last a week, two weeks, maybe a month.
But the most important thing that you need to remember is that following and living for Jesus Christ and living for that single moment. You need to renew your mind daily with Christ. What exactly does that mean? That means that you dedicate every single day to Jesus Christ. You live for Him, one day at a time.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18: – “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. ”
Psalm 1:1-6 – “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; …”
I’m gonna cut it here but think about this: Everybody says “Live in the moment”. I think that ridiculous.
Here’s my phrase and I would encourage you to write this down somewhere you spend a significant amount of time, your car, your office, your fridge, make it your lock screen, tweet it out, put it on your Instagram story, whatever it takes to remember this.
Live for THAT moment.