What is life? Why do I exist? Paul in his prayer to the Colossians gives us a hint of how we can discover a life worth living. First of all, he commends them for their faith and hope in Christ, reminding them that they had an encounter with God’s grace (Colossians 1:3-6).
Is God’s grace evident in your life? Has there been a transformation, a change of behaviour and attitude? Are you desiring God? Are you hungry for the things of God?
Do you ever rehearse a lifetime of regrets, thinking of that one thing that you wish you could have done differently? What kind of life should we live if we really want a life worth living?
A life worth living is a life filled with the knowledge of His will
A knowledge of God’s will can only come through His Word. We live in a culture where our living is governed by how we feel; if it feels good then it must be okay. However, the Bible is essential to our Christian living, it is the source whereby we should be filled with the knowledge of His will. Don’t let your Christian values be set by the standards of this world and how they think and behave, instead let your life be ordered by the Lord (Romans 12:1-2).
Psalm 37:23 says that ‘the steps of the godly are directed by the Lord, He delights in every detail of their lives’. Self-centredness prevents us from knowing and living in the centre of God’s will for our lives.
A life worth living is a life filled with the knowledge of God in all wisdom and spiritual understanding
We need to understand and see the implications of God’s Word in everyday life situations. It is no good having a knowledge of the things of God when you can’t relate it to your life or the circumstances you face in life, we need to become ‘doers of God’s Word’. We need to know how God’s will affects us in how we handle matters such as relationships (avoiding sexual sin), our money (avoiding debt and gambling) and how we trust Him for the future (avoiding reading horoscopes).
When we understand His will with all wisdom and spiritual understanding, we realize the truth and can then apply it to our lives. We can know the truth from the Word of God, but it is only when we act on it that it sets us free. We must have a spiritual understanding in applying the Word to our lives.
God has not left us on our own, He has given us the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. The Holy Spirit is our friend and teacher (1 Corinthians 2:12-13) and brings us into an understanding of God’s will and how to apply the Word to our lives.
A life worth living is life walking worthy of the Lord
We need to understand the background of Gnosticism that disturbed the early church. These false teachers said they had a better knowledge of the gospel; that matter was evil and so the body and everything material was evil. Therefore it didn’t really matter what you did in the body, because what mattered was the soul. Gnosticism says that humans are divine souls trapped in the physical body.
From their experience the knowledge they professed to have didn’t show itself in the way they lived. As believers, it is not enough just to know the Word, but His Word must be evident in how we live our lives.
Read James 1:22-25 and ask yourself whether you bring glory to God in the things that you say and do. A believer walking worthy of the Lord and knowing God, is going to do great things for God. In fact they will produce spiritual fruit in everything they do.
Our goal and purpose in life is to please God, to be fruitful in everything. Therefore, focus on what matters in life – pleasing God, doing God’s will and seeking first the Kingdom of God. No one on their death bed ever said: ‘I just wish I had spent more time at the office’!
A life worth living is a life that will increase in the knowledge of God
When we are obedient and when we apply and respond to the information we know about God, we grow in the knowledge of God. Growing in the knowledge of God does not mean head knowledge, but intimacy. God longs that we know Him (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
The Christian life is a daily walk with God; sometimes it is easy, sometimes difficult, yet Paul reminds us that it is worth it.
Live your life worthy of the Lord – make it count! Don’t waste it! You only have one life!