Living to the Lord

Rom. 14:7-8

"For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord."

This is the ultimate change in direction! In my flesh, I live to myself. I am egocentric. But in the Spirit, my entire life changes direction. In the spirit, I am consumed with living for the Lord or dying to the Lord. If this is why Christ died, it must be a huge priority in my life. I must ask myself if I think of Him in all my living, in the choices for my time, in the decisions I make, in my activities and my attitudes, and even in my accomplishing the mundane but necessary tasks of life?  Or is my commitment to Christ tainted with a worldly focus or a fleshly attitude? 

How can I practically live to the Lord?  First I think that I would have a strong desire to live like this. Is this what I really want, or do I like having some of God and some of the world? Then I would have to be willing to surrender open-handedly the things of the world that are not necessarily bad, but that take up time. How deep is my committment?  In order to do this and keep it all of grace, I would have to be saturated in the Word and in prayer, and allow the Spirit to change my mindset. I must be seeking Him constantly and consistently. These verses are calling for a committed life, one that is serious about living for the Lord. Why is that hard to do?  Why does the world have such a hold?  I think Paul nailed it when he said that in his spirit he delighted in God, but in his flesh he was captive to sin. He kept this constantly in his mind and cried out for the grace to live to the Lord. So must I!

Father,

I want Your grace in every situation so that I might truly live to You. Purify my heart and my soul.Take away my taste for the world and replace it with an insatiable hunger for You and Your Words. 

In Jesus name,

Amen