“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)
Someone once said to me: “I can’t live for God simply because I’m afraid I’ll go to hell if I don’t.” They then asked: “What is the reason I should live for Him?” My answer was simple: “Because He is worthy.”
I can fully attest that surrendering my life to the Lord was the best decision I ever made. Where would I be without the Lord? Frankly, I don’t even want to know. No doubt, getting saved spared me from so much sin, shame, and regret that I would have to live with. It ushered me into a life so full of joy, peace, purpose, and excitement that I would never have known if I had held onto my life and did things my way. And then of course there is the blessed knowledge that I will live through eternity with the God I am living with now, and I will not experience the second death and an eternity of pain and regret.
But all of these things are NOT the reason to live for God. Whether I am experiencing good or bad is irrelevant to the question. My one and only motive for living for God is that He has created me for Himself, and my “reasonable service” is to give Him my life, my body, my mind, my days, my all. To withhold myself from my Creator and to reserve my life for my pleasure instead of His is to be guilty of the “great transgression.” I cannot do better with my life than He can. I don’t deserve me. He who made me deserves my every breath.
How long does it take for one to wake up to the reality that God wants us, and He wants ALL of us? He is not interested in the intellectual nod or the religious crumbs we throw in His direction. Whatever we think we can make of our lives – as moral, as ethical, as the good people we think we are – means nothing to Him, if we have not given Him what He wants. He does not want some “thing” from us. He wants US – lock, stock, and barrel. We are to be a whole burnt offering of His altar. Nothing but this pleases a jealous God. He seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Do yourself a favor – one you will never regret – surrender your life fully to God. He wants you to truly and fully worship Him. He is worthy. Nothing else is.