What shall a man boast in? What shall a man value in life? What shall a man make his priority in life? What shall a man set his face, his eyes, his focus, his life on? What shall a man live to serve? - Every single question is answered by this, and it’s not a what, it’s a Who. He is Jesus.
For what does man have, what talent or gift or good thing does he profess to have that has not been given him? James 1:17 says “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows”. Should material wealth, should fame, should the glory of man be that which is valued in life above all things? What is it that is said should be the value of a man’s life? Philippians 3:8 “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish that I may gain Christ…” What is it that should be the number one priority in life? Mark 12:30-31 “‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And the second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. There is no other commandment greater than these.’” A man shall set his face, his eyes, his focus, his life, on this – Proverbs 4:20 “My son, give attention to my words. Incline your ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life to those that find them and health to all your flesh”. A man should not live to serve himself, his possessions, nor any dumb idols, but he shall serve the one and only God! Matthew 4:10 “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only’”.
Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters…” Every decision, every choice that we make reflects just who it is that we are serving. For instance, I choose to sleep in rather than get up and go to church, and I may turn around and try to justify it by saying “Well, I was overly tired”. Well, who’s decision was it to stay up late? “Well, I was out of town and got in late”. But is that really an excuse? Is that reason enough to miss church? It would be different if God would have had me be somewhere else doing something for him and I was out of town, but that is not the issue at hand. In this instance, I have chosen myself over what I know is right and what I should have done for a bit of comfort, because I didn’t “feel” like getting out of bed to go to church. That’s a simple example, but we are faced with decisions every day that reflect who I have decided to serve in that situation. Our lives should be constantly changing, that is, we are becoming better and better, more on target, that every day we are decreasing ourselves that He may increase, choosing to do what is right, what He has told us to do, rather than what our old, dead, carnal nature wants to do. The carnal man serves himself – the godly man serves others. The carnal man puts himself first – the godly man puts others first. The root of this godly nature is putting God first, for to those who put God first, His love will abound in them and will flood out into others.
Serve God, not self.
