The Life Before You - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, October 4. Do you know why you were created? If you aren't sure, then open the Scriptures today to discover a solid biblical answer that will change the focus of all you do. What would you say that life is an exciting journey?

Or would you say that life is a mere existence? It's a battle for survival. It is a continuous hardship. It's like wandering on a journey with no sense of direction or purpose. How would you describe life? And the way you would describe that would say something about the way that you're living.

Let me ask you something else. What's your purpose for living? What are you living for? And where are you headed? And what are you trying to accomplish? And what goals do you have for your life? Are you just sort of floating through or are you going somewhere?

Are you just sort of out there or do you have a sense of direction? What does life mean to you? What's your real reason for living?

And people may give lots of reasons. Lots of things about life you and I may describe, but in the 12th chapter of Hebrews, if you'll look there for just a moment, the first three verses, the writer of Hebrews compares life to something that I want us to look at and look at some very probing, searching questions in your life today. He says in the 12th chapter of Hebrews beginning in verse 1, Now listen, the writer of Hebrews has described life here as a race. And he says, Now first of all, I want us to look at the originator of this race and examine two or three things here. It is God who created you. It may be through human parents that you came, but it is God who created you.

He is the ultimate reason for your existence today. What he's saying in this passage is that our life is like a race. And the one who originated this was God. And the origin of the race for every believer, the very beginning line where it all starts is the day you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. God at that day set you on the track. Notice what he says. Let us run the race that is set before us.

What is it? That is the life that God has set before you. He says we, like runners, are to run that race. It began the moment you were saved. You say, well, what about me? I'm not a Christian. Where am I?

You're just sort of wandering around. But my friend, those of us who've trusted Jesus Christ as our savior, he says the life, the race that is set before us, the life that God has planned for you, he says he's the one who's originated that. Now the key question here is this. Listen, we know who the originator is.

We know where it originates. But what is the objective? What is it we are running for? What is it we are running toward? What are we living our lives for?

So I want you to think very soberly about this question I'm going to ask you. If I wrote on a sheet of paper and asked you to complete this sentence, what would you say? The objective of my life is.

How would you answer that? If I gave you a pencil, a piece of paper, and I said, answer this question, the objective of my life is, that is, the purpose of my life, what I'm living for, the objective of my life is, what would you say? Well, many people would say, well, the objective of my life is just make a living.

That's not good enough. The objective of my life is to enjoy life, to have pleasure and to find peace and happiness and joy and all the rest. Listen, did you know that all of those things are dependent upon my outward circumstances and my situation and God does want us living our life that way? The objective of my life is some of you live 60, 70 years.

Some of you live 15, 20, 30, 40 years. The objective of my life is how would you complete that? If you can't complete that, it may be an indication that you don't really know why you're here. You say, well, my vocation is thus and so. I'm not talking about your vocation. I'm talking about life. I'm talking about that that link, that gift of time that God has given to you.

What is the objective of it? What did God have in mind the day he created you? What did he have in mind the day he set you on that track? And you see, we're not all running on the same track. There is a track for your life. There is a track for his life because you see, we're not competing with each other. We're not trying to outrun someone else. We're not trying to overcome someone else.

We're not trying to get anywhere before someone else gets there. He says that life is like a race. And the moment you were saved, he started you at the starting line. And from that point on, God says you and I are to run that race. Now, if I don't know what I'm running for, I don't know why I'm running, don't know where I'm headed, I'm in trouble.

And he's simply saying to us here when he says the race, listen, the race, not that I chose the race that is set before me. That implies that somebody else determined the direction of my life. Somebody else determined the direction and the purpose of your life. What is the objective of your life? Why are you living?

Why are you working five and six and some of you seven days a week? What is it that you're trying to squeeze out of life? What is it that you're trying to glean out of life? You're out there searching and seeking and striving and hungering and thirsting and working and slaving and endeavoring and pleading. And you name it and you're doing it because there's something that you want.

Let me ask you a question. What is the reason God placed you here? Are you in the vocation that God has chosen for you? Is your life an investment of time which cannot be duplicated one second were it not for the will of God? Every single heartbeat is the gift of Almighty God. Every day, every minute, every second you live is the gift of God.

He can stop any of it in a split second just quicker than that. He can stop your life, but he lets you live. Are you spending it? Are you trying to soak and sap everything you can out of life? Or do you see your life as an investment? What is the objective of the race?

What are you running toward? Let me tell you what God says you ought to put on the other end of that sentence. Listen to me now and don't get tripped up by saying, oh, now that's some theological humbug and that's some preacher talk. No, I want to tell you, here's the gospel truth. Here's the divine truth.

Here's the truth as God knows it. Listen, the objective of my life is every single one of us. God wants us to honestly be able to add to that the following words. The objective of my life is to glorify God on earth.

How do I do that? By the life that I live. Listen, that's why he says the race that is set before you, he saves you in order that the rest of your life, that you and I may be a living expression of the presence of God, a living demonstration of the power of God because he didn't create us for us.

He didn't create us to sap and soap and suck everything we can out of life for our own pleasure. The objective of my life is to glorify God. That means that you and I would so live that other people will listen. They will meet Jesus Christ because they've met you and me. You say, but now what about my vocation?

Listen to me carefully. He says the life that is set before us, the life that is set before us, that is the race that is set before us, is the Christian life. Into that Christian life comes your family. Into that Christian life comes your vocation.

These are a part of what? A part of your life as you glorify Almighty God. He's chosen this man to be a carpenter, this man to be a plumber, this man to be a preacher, this man to be an attorney, this man to be a waiter. This man, this woman, multitudes, vast, enormous, indescribable types of vocations. So you say, well, isn't that the will of God?

The issue is this. What is the life that is set before us? The life that is set before us is the Christian life. The purpose and objective of that is to glorify God as a carpenter, glorify God as a plumber, glorify God as a nurse, glorify God as a mother, glorify God as a clerk, glorify God as a secretary, glorify God as a manager. Glorifying God, that is my purpose for living. And you can glorify God digging ditches, you can glorify God teaching school, and you can glorify God changing diapers. It isn't, listen, watch this, it isn't what I'm doing, it is my objective.

It is my goal. What is the life that God has set before us? It is a life whereby whatever we invest our life in, our families, our vocations, the ultimate objective of the race is that Almighty God, to whom I belong by the right of creation and recreation in Christ Jesus at the cross, my objective is that Almighty God would be glorified. He would be blessed and honored and magnified because we came through life. One of these days the race is going to be over and they're going to stretch out your body somewhere, either in a funeral home or in a church up at the front here, and the question is this. Not how beautiful is the casket and how expensive it is and how much money they paid, but when your friends sit in the audience at your memorial service, here's the question. Who out there is a better person because you lived? Who out there discovered Jesus Christ because you came their way? Who out there has a deeper understanding of Jesus Christ because you lived and invested your life? You see, most people are spending it, spending it, spending it, spending it, spending it, spending it, spending it, and they're not even thinking about investing their life, and you know what they're doing?

They're spending something that doesn't even belong to them. He says you are not your own. You say, but I am my own. God says you're not your own. Listen, it is God who created you. It is God who sustains you.

It is God who has equipped you, gave you eyesight, ears. He gave you a body that moves. He has put you on the track and in the race to run. He has given you all the equipment you need, and He says my objective for you in this race is that I, Almighty God, Jehovah, would be glorified through my investment in your life.

Who in the world are we to tell God what we're going to do, how we're going to run, and which race we're going to run in? The objective of my life is how do you complete that? Up until this point in my life, the objective of my life has been how do you complete that? And some people would have to say up until this point, the objective of my life has been to survive, to gratify the lust of the flesh, to accumulate, to achieve, to gain fame and honor and recognition and prestige.

And I want to tell you, my friend, that Almighty God says there's only one legitimate way to complete that sentence, and that is to glorify Almighty God. And I want to say to parents, listen, if we want our children, listen, to invest their life, not spend it. Kid gets on drugs, they're spending their life. Alcohol, they're spending their life. Sex, they're spending their life.

Wandering around, wasting time, spending their life. And you see, the truth of it is this. Whether you are 60 or 16 this morning, every single one of us is either investing or spending, investing or spending, investing or spending.

We're doing one of the two. And we were created to so invest their life that God would get a good return on His investment. I don't belong to me. You don't belong to you. We belong to God. And it is pride and self-will and self-seeking when a person says, I'm going to do my own thing.

Only by the grace of God will He let you do it. And the awesome thing about choices in life is that God gives us, that He gives us the power to make the wrong, foolish choices. The objective of my life is, how do you complete that?

Listen, what do we say, how do you complete that sentence? The objective of my life is to glorify God through our life. Okay, so what does God do? Knowing the temperament we have, the gifts, the talents and all the rest, knowing the weaknesses we have in our life, what does He do?

Here's what He does. When He says, let us run the race that is set before us, God knows which track to put me on. He knows which track to put you on. Now the track today may be a valley track. The track six weeks from now may be a mountain track. Then every once in a while we get one of those tracks that goes through the forest.

It's cool. And by the seashore where it's beautiful. And then up in the mountains where it's just delightful. It's a different track. Why is it that God doesn't run us on the same level track all the time? Go back to His purpose.

The objective of my life is to glorify God. Then what must God do? He must sand, prune, sift. He must run me in the valley to get my attention. He must head me to the mountain tops to test my strength.

He must head me through the desert to test my endurance. God knows what kind of track to put you on at what period in your life to do what? To accomplish His objective. God is, listen, God isn't primarily interested in my big plans. He's interested in accomplishing through you and through me His big plan. So He's the one who governs which track I run. So the next time you want to complain, say, Well, yeah, but if I was on His track, things would be better.

No, it wouldn't. God has set you on your track. He knows exactly what it's going to take to make you the man or woman God wants you to be. Therefore, when we talk about endurance, listen, in the process of learning to run, in the process of learning to endure the battles and the hardships and the conflicts of life, and life is full of them, it's going to always be full of them because the devil is released in this world to harass us and throw rocks at us as we run and to yell at us. And you've been to races when somebody boos somebody and all the rest. That's what Satan says.

He's on the sideline booing us and throwing rocks at us and trying to trip us up. Because he knows what's at the end of the track. Every race has an end. Whether it's a hundred-yard dash, the 440, the mile, or cross country, every single race has an end. And guess who's going to be at the other end of the race?

Jesus. He'll be there waiting, friend, when you get there. When your heart beats the last time, the old race is over. An interesting thing about this race is, listen, you and I never know when it's going to end. The fellow who's running the mile, he knows when the mile's over. He's running the mile. The 440, he can gauge that. The 100, he can gauge that.

The cross country, he knows. But you see, in the race of life, we don't know where the end is. But it's there, and the one who'll be waiting for you and me at the other end is the Son of God. Who has been there all along, as well as being with us all along, encouraging us there.

Now listen to me. The Bible says that He's the judge. He's not going to judge you and me about, by the speed with which we ran our life. He's going to judge us by the quality of life that we've lived. The purpose of life will determine the quality of life. And if I understand and get straight in my mind, the objective of my life is to glorify God. And I invest my life with that purpose in mind.

When I get to the end of the way and I see Him, it's going to be hallelujah. But if I waste and squeeze and squander and flounder in life, wobble down the track, finally get there, having spent God's investment in my life, it's not going to be such a glorious day when I stand before the judge because the Bible says it is appointed the man once to die and after this the judgment, but we shall all give account of our lives for all of our deeds in our life. One of these days we're going to give an account for the race, and I want to ask you a simple question. Today, my friend, how are you running the race? And how do you answer the objective of my life is? The encumbrances of my life are. The sin that doth so easily beset me is.

How do you answer that? Let's pray together. Father, we thank You and praise You and love You for Your goodness and kindness and mercy. And how many times you've had to pick us up on the racetrack? How many times you've had to bandage up our wounds? We've fallen to the barbed wire.

We've taken upon ourselves weights that should never have been there. We thank You for Your loving kindness, Your goodness, Your mercy, Your forgiveness. We thank You for setting us up, giving us a new sense of direction, making us aware that the goal is still the same. And Father, my prayer today is that in Jesus' name that multitudes of people would understand some for the first time in their life what the purpose of life is all about and commit themselves to running to the glory of our God is my prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to The Life Before You. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.