My "vacation" in New England ended up being more than just that. In the timing of God, it ended up being a bit of an ambush.

We are called to live for one thing. As Christians, that one thing is following Jesus and knowing God. It's living to see his kingdom come and his love and power manifest on earth, no matter what the cost to ourselves.

It is easy to become sidetracked from that goal. A lot of us, for a lot of the time, even though we're saved, aren't really living for that goal. We're taken up with the things of this life: jobs, taking care of ourselves, family, hobbies, sports, whatever. We're saved and we're going to heaven, and we go to church on Sundays, but God and his kingdom are not our magnificent obsession. Our attention is captured by a million and one other things and our effectiveness for the kingdom is sabotaged.

It wasn't meant to be this way. Jesus said many hard things about the way we are supposed to live.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:23-26)

It's a hard call. But it's what it means to be a Christian. Jesus never meant for us to live with anything less than total devotion, a passion for him and for the kingdom that consumes everything we are and everything we have to the point that we will give it all up and suffer anything to have him.

But there's another side to this perspective. Jesus also told this parable, one of my favourite passages in the whole Bible:

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all that he had and bought that field." (Matthew 13:44, emphasis added)

Whatever we give up for Jesus is more than made up for by what we gain. He is the treasure. He is the all-surpassing treasure that once we catch a glimpse of, will outshine anything on earth that we once thought valuable.

That's what makes living for Jesus worth it. That's what makes giving up whatever we have to give up, whatever cost we have to pay, whatever we suffer, worth it. Yes, there is a cost. Yes, sometimes it is very pricey. Yet, when we see him in his beauty, we are more than willing to throw it all away so that we can gain him.

What are you living for that makes the beauty of Jesus dim in your life? What do you prize that you are unwilling to give up to receive more of him? Whatever it is, spend time seeking God until he gives you a glimpse of his glory and beauty. Once he does, you won't want to live for anything else. You'll be willing to do whatever it takes to have him. Trust me, you'll be happier for it. You'll discover what you were made for.