I want to live like that...

When you are little, you have goals and dreams of what you want to do when you “grow up.” In the third grade, I wrote a report about how I wanted to be a meteorologist (that goal didn’t last long!) In college, I studied political science with the hopes of being a lawyer. I took the LSAT, got into law school with a scholarship, and was set for my post-college plans. At our five year high school reunion we received cards that reminded us of what we wrote about our “future selves.” My card said that I would be married and living in Washington, D.C. The strangest thing in all of my “plans” was that I always told myself I would never be a teacher. After all, being a teacher would be “settling.”  

Isn’t it funny how things change?

I always wonder what things would be like if we absolutely gave up all of our goals. I wonder how our lives would be different if we were just content with this one goal: Living for Christ. What if all of our life’s questions were centered on that goal?

What do you want to be doing as an adult? Living for Christ.

What will your marriage be like? Living for Christ.

What job will you have? Living for Christ.

What will make you happy in the future? Living for Christ.

Where will you be in 10 years? Living for Christ.

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  Yet, our human nature makes living for Christ so hard. We have plans for our lives that really have nothing to do with Christ at all. I consistently struggle with the idea that I am not accomplishing enough. I am 26 years old, single, living in my hometown, spending my time with teenagers, and still not settled. Lately I have been so frustrated with my goals and ambitions. Yet, if I am to truly live out what I am supposed to be doing, I shouldn’t care about all of these things. I should be focused on Christ and Him only. If I think I have failed my own goals, I should be more ashamed at how many times I fail to live for Christ!

I was recently convicted by the following lyrics from the song, “Live Like That” by Sidewalk Prophets:

Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory
When I'm home where my soul belongs

Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of those
Was my worship more than just a song

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

"Live Like That" Official Music Video- Sidewalk Prophets

How different would my life and “goals” be if I just made my prayer the following:

Lord, help me to be love when no one else is there. Help me show you to those around me, including those who are considered to be the “least of these.” Let my worship be more than just words, but let me fall in love with You more each day. Let everything I say and do in my life point to You and You only. Help me to be recklessly abandoned and never hold back. Help me give up my life completely to You. Lord, I want to live like that.

I’m sure that all of my concerns about my job, my relationship, my friends, and everything would quickly fade away if I truly relied on that prayer. How many times do we forget that what we want really doesn’t matter? And more importantly, what we want cannot compare to the plans that our loving God has in store for us (Jeremiah 29:11). How often do we remember that everything we could possibly want doesn’t matter if we aren’t living for Christ because our foundation will not survive (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)? How many more people could be exposed to Christ if I just loved them they way I should? Am I an example for Him?

This is a challenge to me. Am I willing and ready  to be recklessly abandoned for Christ? The words reckless and abandoned can be scary, but when it comes to Christ, they are the only way to truly live. I need to give up every goal I have had- whether it is from third grade or yesterday. I need to give up my desires and totally answer every questions with, “Living for Christ.”

What a challenge. I have a long way to go, but I want people to be able to be able to say: “Living for Christ? Yes, she lived like that.”

Recklessly abandoned, never holding back. I want to live like that.

Do you?