If its not bringing me closer to Jesus, why bother?

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

Who do you belong to? Is your life your own or have you given it to Jesus? The truth is, if your not living for God then you are against God! God is very black and white on this issue. His word says in Matthew 12:30 - “Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.”

There are two eternal homes that we will all spend the rest of our life after death at. Either we will spend eternity in Hell separated from God or we will spend Eternity in Heaven with God. It is either one or the other. We will also receive rewards in heaven for what we have done for the Lord while here on Earth.

Now, this world is full of corruption and deceit. Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31). So, we now live in a world that is smack dab in the middle of a very real spiritual war between Satan and us. To make matters worse we ourselves are selfish in our own humanism. Yes, Satan is a liar and dangles a carrot of temptation in front of us all the time, but there is something in us that wants that carrot! This is not to say that it is like a tug of war between God and Satan. God already won the war on the cross over 2,000 years ago! We need to allow God to fight the battle for us.

So, what does that actually look like, to let God fight the battle for us? If you were in a fight of loosing your child to a gang, you would want him to have nothing to do with that gang or any other gang or anything to do with gangs. Same is true with our Father in Heaven. He wants to protect us from this world. He doesn’t want us to have anything to do with the love of this world.

See, if it isn’t bringing you closer to Jesus then it is driving you further away from Him! Don’t be deceived! There is no middle ground, no gray area, no sitting on the fence. You are either totally devoted to God in every area or you are against God in some or all areas. Now, to be against something, you would be anti-this or anti-that. If you are against abortion, you would be anti-abortion. So, if you are against God, you would be anti-Christ. Now, hold on, I’m not saying you would be THE anti-Christ, but you would be taking on characteristics of the anti-Christ.

We as christians say “Yes, I have separated myself from this world because I want to live a life pleasing to the Lord.” But, do we really mean that? Have we really cut things of this world out of our life that God hates? I mean, take a look all around you. Anti-Christ characteristics are all throughout the media, in Hollywood, the newspapers, magazines at the checkout counter, billboards along the highway, soap operas, TV shows, movies, music, and books. It’s all over the place!

Even commonly well-liked TV shows like the Simpsons showing how Homer being the typical male leader of a home would act with his family. Homer is a lazy man who is more of a friend to his family instead of a father or a husband looking out for the welfare of his family protecting them. We tend to look at this as just a comic thing and we laugh it off and go about our day when the show turns off, but before we realize it, things like the characteristic of Homer kind of takes us in and we start to imitate it.

We need to be truly separated from the things of this world, constantly aware of our surroundings. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ever watch television again or anything else like that, or that we need to not have fun and live like a monk. But, I am saying we need to monitor the things around us and be careful to what we subject our ears, eyes and minds to. If you don’t need it in your life and if its not going to improve and bring you closer to Christ, then it’s better to go without it.

Think of it this way, if you invited Jesus into your home to stay for a month, but you went on your normal day-to-day life with Him there, would you feel the need to hide certain things or feel that you need to change certain things? It’s not about right and wrong. It’s more than that. It’s about protection. Protection for us and for our children and families from the sways and temptations of this world.

Take an inventory of your day-to-day life and ask yourself… No…better yet, Ask God what He would have you change in your home to fit the verse…”As for Me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15b