Have a goal...

Today I met a guy while working out at the fitness center. I started talking with him in the locker room as I got ready to workout. He was an elderly man, 76 years old, and he made me laugh. Towards the end of our conversation he shared something with me that blew me away. He said, "at one time I was given 3 months to live... that was 15 years ago."

Wow! Fascinated by this statement, I listened intently as he talked about being diagnosed with cancer, how he felt when they diagnosed him, and why the doctors think he's still living. After we talked for a while I proceeded to workout, inspired by what I just heard.

But then, the gentlemen came and found me before he left to share with me one more thing. He said, "I'll tell you why I'm still living, and please pass this along to anyone facing the possibility of death. I'm still living because I had something worth living for. When I was diagnosed with cancer my wife was 5 months pregnant, and I wanted to see my child be born. When he was born, I wanted to see him go to kindergarten. Having those goals got me through the treatments and gave me the strength to live."

I this dude is right on! He had something worth living for. I've been thinking about what this guy said to me today, and the question I keep pondering is "What am I living for?" What is the goal of my life?

As I think about that question I can't help but think of Paul who wrote in Philippians 3. He said,

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul's goal was to know Jesus. That's it. That was his goal. In fact, he said he considered everything rubbish (crap) compared to knowing Jesus. Paul knew what he was living for, and that motivated him through some extremely difficult times.

As I sit and think about what the guy at the gym said to me today and Paul's words, I pray that the goal of my life would be to know Jesus. That's it, and to consider everything crap compared to knowing him. So, what are you living for?

By the way, Tom is the man!