Right question leads to right answer

Romans 14:7-8 “ For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.”

There is a question we face  in our lives.

“What am I here for?”

Good universal concept, but wrong focus.

It’s not WHAT but WHO am I here for is the focus.

The answer for believers…it’s Jesus.

To live for yourself is shallow…superficial…unsatisfying

To live for other people can bring temporary happiness but ultimate frustration. They will disappoint you. They will not be grateful for “all you have done for them”. They may turn on you…turn from you…turn you away.

Jesus never will.

When you live unto the LORD there are at least three things that happen.

God’s glory is magnified.   Your life points to someone higher and greater than you  He is the reason you work better and harder than anyone else. He is the reason you look at your classroom conduct and performance as a ways to honor Him with your best.

Your gain comes with it.  Jesus told his disciples that those who followed Him would be blessed and He would multiply their family and friends in this life.  Make sense right?  Who wouldn’t want to be around someone who walks humbly, tenderly and lovingly with God?  You  become like those with whom you spend the most time.

Your good can follow.  Jesus tells us to remember we are light of the world and a city on a hill. Our good works should refresh others and reflect on Him. The word says to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you.

If you are living to Him…the answer is Jesus.

God used who?

In John 4, Jesus stops for water in the land of half breeds, Samaria.  Jews viewed Samaritans as impure and mongrels.  Jesus has a talk with this questionable woman.  This woman’s soul was exposed by Jesus with some probing, insightful questions. He exposed her heart about the futile promises of prior relationships.  True satisfaction is found only in He Who is living water. She was so transformed with the living water of knowing Jesus, she left her water jar behind to go tell people she had met the promised one.


With today’s media managers, Jesus would have been told with whom to be seen, where to appear, how to phrase an “acceptable” politically correct message so to get the most favorable exposure.


He cared not for the fleeting fame of men…He cared about the eternal soul of this woman.


Think about it. In the past, when people saw this woman in the streets or the marketplace she was looked at and talked about as “that one”.  Perhaps she was the party animal of OldeTown Slidell or even the French Quarter.  She was a “Girls Gone Wild Mideast Spring Break”, “Real Housewives of Sychar”. She had been marred 5 times and was living with someone without the benefit of marriage.


What an unlikely choice for someone to share the good news about Jesus.


But, are we really surprised?


Look throughout the Gospels at who Jesus hung out with.  Look at the twelve He chose.  Cursing fishermen, IRS agents, revolutionaries, people prone to violence, traitors.  Gutless wonders after the garden arrest.


Imagine this woman going person to person and perhaps door to door to say I have found Him. Considering she lived among the half breed Samaritans, it was one outcast going to another to tell them she had found mercy and acceptance.


Isn’t that what evangelism should be today?


Why did they come to see this Jesus she talked about? He told her all she had ever done. She was changed. She probably had a glow and urgency about her.  She was on fire with a love for Jesus.


Where are those people today?  Not just those who say they are “on fire “for the Lord in the comfort of their church buildings, but actively, intentionally and urgently go into the community to tell others “I have found the one!”


People are fascinated by changed lives.


It gives them hope for the mess their lives are.