“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” – Romans 14:7-8
We are redeemed in Christ.
Yet who do we work the hardest to make happy? The words of Paul in Romans 14 remind us we ought to live mainly to make God happy. That should be our greatest motivation, the goal overshadowing everything we do. As we are reminded in the Westminster Catechism, our main goal, our chief end is “to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”
This is also the message of the very first of the Ten Commandments of Chivalry, which says, “You shall believe and obey the Bible, and shall devote yourself to Christ.” A Christian knight is before everything a servant of God, completely devoted to Christ.
All actions of chivalry should flow from the prime motivation to serve the great Liege-Lord Jesus. We love the Church because she is Christ’s Bride. We protect the weak because they are made in the image of God and because God commands it in his Word. We do not lie, because Jesus is Truth. We give with largesse, because God tells us to and because Christ is generous.
It makes sense we ought to live for Christ before all else. He is, by the bare definition of being God (though also by virtue of every one of His majestic and beautiful qualities), the Greatest Good that we could strive for.
We are redeemed in Christ and live and die in our eternal Lord’s care. What comfort! What motivation!
Who will we work the hardest to make happy?
Convicting and beautiful words!