He asks because he knows that our lives are not about us; they are about the people God can use us to reach. And then one day down the line it, for those people it won't be about them anymore either; it will be about the people God can now use them them to reach.
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How far away from that mindset do we find ourselves the majority of the time?
I'll tell you what I do. Every day I wake up and have this selfish desire deep inside for God to catch my attention today. What I want is for God to set up spotlights around the things I will come across that day so I know who or what I am supposed to engage and who or what I can ignore with a clear conscious.
Do you see the difference?
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Anything less than coming to God everyday and saying, "Here I am, what I can I do for you and your Son?" is not acceptable.
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Now, maybe you are in the process of getting to that point. You don't feel like you are a person God can use because you don't know enough or you aren't mature enough or you haven't experienced enough. Whether or not that is true isn't important. What is important is to recognize that if you never get to the point where you are asking yourself, consistently, "God, what are you going to do with me? Because I'm ready," then you are never reaching your potential as a follower of Christ.
Plain and simple.
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The realization is nothing spectacular. To be honest, I think it is just something we are lazy about. I mean, really, who in their right mind wants to give up the right to use today "how I want" to use today? No one but Jesus. (But the good news is: He lives in you, craziness and all.)
No one ever sacrificed everything they ever wanted and desired as perfectly as we should, except Jesus. No one ever gave up their entire life and all that came with it for what the Father desires, except Jesus. No one was ever perfect, except Jesus. But hey, no one ever said following Christ was easy.
But it's worth it.
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Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to what they have done."
Matthew 16:24-27
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Peace.
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