Why do I do the things I do?

“From Him, Through Him and for Him are all things, To Him be the glory forever, Amen!”

-Romans 11:36

Do you ever stop and think about why do you the things you do? You can apply this question to everything in life such as your occupation, volunteering, marriage, parenting, servicing and more.

WHY do I do the things I do?

So, I’ll go first! And I will be vulnerable with all of you. There was a time, not very long ago, when I “thought” I was doing everything for God’s glory. But honestly, I was doing it for me! I know that makes me sound like a super selfish and egocentric person. I can tell you it wasn’t that blatantly obvious to me. Again, I thought I was honoring God.

But it turned out, I was really honoring the “world”. I was chasing recognition, success, status and for my name to be known. I convinced myself that if I pushed hard enough, all my dreams and desires would come true. So I kept pushing!

I pushed to the detriment of sacrificing time with God, my husband & children, family and friends. I told myself I was “too busy” to serve at the church or volunteer because I needed to focus on “my goals”!

Sounds like a dream life, right? (insert a huge sense of sarcasm here!) Whenever I have tried to do things my way, for me, in my time, things never work out as I hoped they would. And the road is always harder and full of pot holes and bumps. It took a lot of wake up calls, soul searching and brutal honesty with myself and God to break this crazy cycle!

And now….everything is different! I am different! I am peace-filled, joyful, content and on fire inside to encourage and inspire others. I finally changed the focus of my motivation, I was changed from the inside out.

God’s way is ALWAYS best! Just like we like to tell our children that we know what is best for them. As a daughter of God’s, He knows what is best for me and for you!

This verse says it all! When we get our priorities in check and keep our eyes on Jesus, the course of our life and the quality in which we are living changes, dramatically! So drastically, in fact, we know without a shadow of a doubt, God working in us and through us is how this changed occurred. It definitely wasn’t anything I did on my own.

Every talent, skill and gift we have is FROM HIM! And THROUGH HIM we are able to develop into a person who can be used to be a light in this world by using what He gave us. This allows us to be aligned with his purpose and plan for our lives and release our plan.

Yes, release it, as in, LET IT GO!!! Why do we do all of this? FOR HIM!!! For His glory, for His name to be known and for the gospel to be shared! I know my purpose is to Know Him, Serve Him and Love Others! And God and I have been partnering together for the past two years, because I finally let go of my agenda. I surrendered my “worldly” desires and replaced them with God’s desires for me to walk out.

I no longer care if my name is known. I care if His name is known! I care about giving him all the glory, not receiving glory from others!

And you know what is amazing? When true surrender happens, God ignites His fire inside of us leading us to follow His plans, willingly and eagerly, while seeing His plans and timing are always best!

So, why do you do the things you do? Maybe my words have caused you to take pause to reflect on this question. I challenge you to ponder this and ask God to reveal your motivations. If you are like I was, in need of some redirection, ask Him to intervene. He will! And when you surrender all to Him, His plans for you will be revealed in ways you never expected! For His Glory, forever!

Know Him, Serve Him, Love Others!

XO,

Christy