Cover Story

Live for Jesus

In the 20 years that I’ve been alive, I’ve noticed a few things. The main thing I’ve noticed is that the world moves very fast. People around me are all so busy every day with schoolwork and jobs and deadlines. I’m no exception. It’s a miracle that I’m actually sitting here at my desk and writing for pleasure.

We’re constantly busy because we’re preparing for the future. Society ingrains these messages in us: I must go to school so that I can become educated; I must become educated so I can get a well-paying job; I must get a well-paying job so I can make a lot of money; I must make a lot of money so I can have a good life.

Let’s say I accomplish all of those things. Well, what next? Everything I’ve worked for has been in preparation for a life that will eventually end. So I stop and ask myself, What am I living for?

Am I going through my daily tasks just to make the best of a forced situation—being alive on this earth? That’s not very gratifying. In fact, I’m not satisfied with that answer at all. I want to live for a purpose. A purpose that has real meaning. A purpose that doesn’t involve an end. How can anybody live just to die? There has to be something more to this life.

Recently I attended the funeral of a friend. Actually, he was the brother of one of my good friends. His life was cut short—very short. At the funeral one of his friends gave a speech that sounded so hopeless and depressing. She said something like, “I want to scream because he is gone forever . . . never coming back . . . and I know I’ll never see him again.” This is how she ended her little tribute to him, she left the congregation with those hopeless words.

Her words got me to thinking. We’re not pointless incidents roaming earth. We didn’t spontaneously materialize from nothing, as our science books explain. We’re not living just to die. Somebody has a purpose and a plan for us here—Jesus does.

Jesus didn’t come down to earth as a mortal human just to die. He died so we can live. You may be wondering, How is this true since people die every day? Indeed in this life we will die, but we don’t have to perish. “Die” means “to pass from physical life.” “Perish” means to “cease to exist.”¹ There is a spark of hope in this.

We don’t have to be sad when somebody we love dies, if they lived for Jesus. He has promised them eternal life. First of all, living for eternity gives me something to live for. Second of all, living for eternity gives me something to look forward to. Jesus promised to come back and take us to heaven, but don’t take my word for it.

First Thessalonians 4:16-18 tells us: “With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever. Encourage each other with these words” (CEV).²

This promise is worth living for. Live for Jesus, because He is worth living for. It doesn’t matter how much money you will make or how big your house will be. Everything materialistic in this world is temporary. So why not live for eternity?
Let’s face it, we don’t have the answers to all of life’s questions, and we’re not perfect—for sure I’m not. My prayer for you and for myself is that we will invest in the future by representing Jesus, so we can live forever with Him in a beautiful place far away, heaven.

¹www.merriam-webster.com, under “die” and “perish.”

²Scripture quotations identified CEV are from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright  American Bible Society 1991, 1995. Used by permission.

In his free time Mark Vidal likes cars, acting, writing, and being with family. His home is in California.

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