Words To Live By

If you could summarize what you would want for your life in one sentence what would it be? Wow! What a big question. But try to answer it and be honest with yourself. Have you ever thought about condensing your life’s meaning into just a few words?  

Sifting through all the day-to-day, the mundane, the internal clutter, the noise, and the business of life and getting your life’s goal into such focus that you can pinpoint its meaning into one concise, easy-to-understand thought!  

If you could do that, you would have a central theme around which your whole life and everything you do would turn.  

Can you do that? I think it’s worth trying…  

Time is such a precious commodity! It seems so sad to fritter away our days… to strive after silly things… or to spend time on things that really don’t matter.  

Believe me, I know! I so wish I could get back so much of my life and have a re-do. I guess I’m pretty normal in that! How many of us have said… If only I could go back and know what I know now! Most of us are shaking our heads in agreement I’m sure!  

That’s why it is important to know what we are living for.  

And know what we want our life to be about.  

When we are breathing our last breaths, what will we want from the years we have lived?   As a believer, I know that at my last breath, this tent, my body, will drop off of my spirit and I will step into eternity! I will live a life so much bigger than I have now! A life with my Lord and Savior Jesus. A forever life!  

But, I’m not there yet. My race is not over. You see I (we) are responsible for the life we are given here on earth. It is ours to use. We must decide HOW to use it. And really, the way we use our lives here is of eternal importance.   I made a decision when I was 33 years old to give my life, my whole life, over to Jesus. When I really understood what Jesus had done for me,  how he had died in my place because of the foolish and sinful way I was living my life, the only response for me was to put my life into His nail-pierced hands!  

My life did a BIG U-turn.

I went from darkness to light. From death to life. From the family of Satan to the Family of God. I gained a Savior, a Kinsman Redeemer, a Champion, a King! I gained security and eternal security!  

My life is not perfect. No, not at all. I still make mistakes and am sometimes full of self-motivated sin. But my life is on a journey. I make the daily decision for the path of my life. My life has direction! When I get off my life’s path and follow rabbit trails I’m never lost. I know how to get back on the right path and keep following it.  

I have found a verse in the Bible that my life revolves around…   This is the thought that defines my life…    

WALK IN A MANNER WORTHY OF THE LORD, TO PLEASE HIM IN ALL RESPECTS, BEARING FRUIT IN EVERY GOOD WORK AND INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Colossians 1:10  

This is my life, or at least what I am striving for. My life in one sentence! This is what my whole life is about since I have entrusted Jesus with it.  

I love this verse and its wonderful meaning.  

Here’s what it means…   WALK… live a life, walk this earthly life… it means to walk a path that has been cut out. A big circle. I like to think of it as a “circle of life”. No Lion King references, please!  

WORTHY…it’s the idea of matching the values of, being like   TO PLEASE HIM IN ALL RESPECTS… is the idea of being a worker. It is the idea of being a worker who carries out and accomplishes just exactly what the boss wants so He is pleased.    

BEARING FRUIT… bringing forth a crop. Making a life full of good works that please one’s boss. Having something good to show that we have done at the end of our lives. A crop of good things is worth something to the boss.    

INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD… This is a magnificent phrase. It carries with it the idea of not just knowing who God is or facts about Him, but having a deep and intimate and close, and meaningful relationship with Him.  

Oh, I want that!  

What my life’s verse says is that I want to live a life that looks like Jesus. I want everything I do to be pleasing to Him. I want a life that counts. A life that is full of good deeds that God has laid out before me to glorify Him! And as I walk this life, I want each step I take to be in the imprint His feet have left. I want to be in a close, intimate relationship with my Creator. I want to continually be awed and amazed by Him. To be humbled that He would even want a relationship with me. I want to know, really deep down know Him because I have a wonderful, intimate relationship with Him.  

That’s a pretty tall order for one little life. But here it is! That is what I want out of life. That is what I consider my life well lived!  

How about you? What do you want from life? Can you narrow it down into a single, all-important thought?    I say, don’t try to lasso the moon or even reach for the star. Reach beyond them to the One who created them!    

Find a Bible verse that you can wrap your life around and memorize it!