What makes you tick? What motivates you to live each day?

If you were to fill in the blank of this phrase—“To live is _______”—what would it be for you?

Family? To live is family. Hockey? To live is hockey (and the Habs winning the Stanley Cup!). Getting good grades? To live is getting that A? Being well-liked? Making the next big sale? Gaining that important client? Having a family? Launching a business? Owning a nice car? Purchasing a big house? The list of possibilities are endless.

Many people might fill in the blank with the word Money. They think that if they just had more money, they would really be living. Yet, Jay Gould, the famous American millionaire, had plenty of money. And when he lay dying, he said, “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”[1]

Others would fill in the blank with the word Power. They think that if they had more power, then they would be content. Yet, Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his day, and after having done so, he is said to have wept in his tent with disappointment because there were no more worlds to conquer.

Still others might fill in the blank with the word Fame.Yet, just six weeks before he died, Elvis Presley was asked by a reporter, “Elvis, when you started playing music, you said you wanted three things in life: you wanted to be rich, you wanted to be famous, and you wanted to be happy. You are fabulously famous, you’re rich; are you happy?” The rich and famous Elvis Presley replied, “No, I’m as lonely as hell.”[2]

What is it that you live for? Now, on one level the above things are not bad to have and/or desire to have. After all, who doesn’t want to be well-liked? Who doesn’t want to excel academically or in their career? Who doesn’t want to have more money? These things aren’t bad if we have them or want them. But if those things top the list of what makes us tick, then there’s a problem, because, according to the Bible, these things are to be subservient to a more important goal and a loftier pursuit.

The way the apostle Paul put it was this: “For to me, to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). At the very top of the chart for what made him tick as a Christian, was knowing Christ as Savior, and serving Him as Lord. If you’re a follower of Jesus, is it what makes you tick?

Later in the same letter Paul wrote, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Did you catch that? “Surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Christ was at the top. There was nothing better, nothing higher, nothing greater, for Paul, than knowing Christ as Savior and serving Him as Lord. Everything else—achievements, power, honor—was secondary to loving Christ. That’s what made him tick. And that’s what ought to make us tick.

There’s no better time than today to bring your goals into line with the Scriptures, and to ask for God’s help that you might truly say and mean it, “To live is Christ.”

If you find this devotional from Pastor Bryan Guinness to be an encouragement to you, visit more like this at: www.bryanguinness.com 

[1] Jay Gould, compiled by Clarence Macartney, as quoted on http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/h/happiness.htm

[2] Elvis Presley, compiled by Joseph Hovsepian, as quoted on

http://www.templebaptistmontreal.com/whatAreYouSearchingForEnglish.pdf