God gave us our job, and all the things we possess, to be used to tell others about salvation through Jesus Christ and to glorify His name. If we are not doing that, we’ve misunderstand His reason for saving us. If we are not doing that, we are living in rebellion to the One that saved us.

It is recorded in Matthew 19:29 that Jesus said…

Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

MUST a person leave America to fulfill Jesus’ words? Must everything we have in this life be sold and left behind to go to a foreign land in order to be faithful to Christ’s call?  Yes… and No (Typical preacher answer).

Bob and Janet Wilmarth,  Ken and Katie Parsons,  David Knapp, and “Blue” are living examples of literally doing what Jesus said in Matthew 19:29.  They are all giving their life, energy, and possessions in Costa Rica to build the Kingdom for God’s glory.

But do WE have to do that? Must a person become an INTERNATIONAL missionary to be obedient to Christ?  No… not always.

For some, fulfilling Jesus’ command to “leave” in Matthew 19:29 will mean putting the American lifestyle and the accompanying possessions behind them to go to another country and possibly die for Him.  Don’t discount that God may in fact call YOU to do that… regardless of your age (Bob Wilmarth was in his 40s when he answered God’s call to Costa Rica).

However…

For ALL Christians, leaving behind houses, family, and career means this: God’s call to glorify His name means He comes before all those things.  It means those things are merely means by which we glorify His name.

God requires us to use our job/career as a means to glorify Him.  God calls us to be salt and light to all the people we interact with daily so that He is magnified.  God expects us to magnify His name in every area of our life even if/when it means that doing such causes us to lose those things.

Question: Do you view your job/career as the way God has given you to glorify Him RATHER THAN amassing temporal possessions?

Question: When you get up each morning, is your first and overwhelming thought that your purpose is to magnify God’s name RATHER THAN conquering the business world and winning the “rat race?”

Question: Is the reason you live each day to gain self worth and how you believe your life matters?

Last Question: At the end of your life… in eternity… when you stand before Almighty God Himself… will you be able to say that you devoted your life each day to fulfilling His call… OR will all the things you’ve done go up in smoke as they are tested by fire before God?

1 Corinthians 3:12-15… Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—  each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

As a believer in Christ… for God’s glory, and to a much lesser degree your eternal reward, I encourage you to live for Him before anything or anyone else.  Otherwise you will be saved, but you’ll make it into heaven smelling like smoke…