Going to church, leading praise & worship, talking about God - or simply calling yourself a "Christian" doesn't mean that you're living for Jesus Christ. People can act like they belong to a congregation on a Sunday, and yet live their daily lives like any other person in the world who may or may not know God.

This is because it is character which defines us as children of God or not. Our character is what truly sustains us and displays to the world, who we truly are. One can say that he believes in God, but doesn't acknowledge God through their thoughts or actions. 

And in fact, our character is meant to be centred around Him. We are meant to live for Him. Not for our family, our boyfriend or girlfriend, our husband or wife, our children, our brother or sister, our mom and dad, our friend or foe, our boss or colleague... we are meant to live for our Lord Jesus Christ.

"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died  for them and rose again."

- 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

"Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

- Luke 9:23

"And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

- Galatians 5:24-25

"For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."

- Romans 14:7-8

The verses in 2 Corinthians doesn't get any clearer than what it already says - that we are to live no longer for ourselves, but for Jesus! Luke takes it further when he says that if we truly are desperate for God, we would deny ourselves and go after Him! In Galatians, those verses say that if we BELONG to God, our flesh (meaning, ourselves) should be crucified, and therefore we should be walking IN the Spirit, meaning, we should be living for God! Then in Romans, we are told that if we live, it's to honour God, or if we die, it's to honour God... not ourselves. 

In essence, it's all ABOUT and FOR God. We are answerable to Him, not to ourselves. We live for Him, not for ourselves. God has blessed us abundantly, and He will always love us despite the sin in our life, but our intention should always be to live for Him, not for our own selfish desires. 

And at the end of the day, our focus should be on Jesus, not upon ourselves. And though a lot of people may say, "No, it's not possible! How can I live NOT for myself? How can I ignore all my needs? It's so hard to give up everything that I want." Firstly, hang on a moment there - God did not ask you to sacrifice or ignore your human needs (such as eating, sleeping well, etc), He simply asked you to live for Him - and that doesn't mean you should starve yourself to death by going on a 365-day fast or something. The whole idea of living for Jesus means that we should be living in the Spirit, not in the flesh (because the "flesh" is our SELF). That is why it says in Galatians above that our "self" should be crucified once we are God's, because once we are God's we are no longer our own "selves". I will continue this in my next post where I will explain why we are no longer ourselves.... in the meantime, God bless you all!

(PS. Apologies if my writing is complicated.. I'm writing in a rush and will definitely explain better next time!)