“We live to the Lord” (Romans 14:8)

If God wanted, He could have instantly brought you to Heaven the moment of your conversion. It wasn’t absolutely necessary for your preparation for immortality that you spend another second on Earth. It’s true, your sanctification continues on Earth in a gradual way, and you won’t be perfected till Christ gives you a new body; but nevertheless, if the Lord wanted it, He could have changed you from imperfection to perfection, and taken you to Heaven at once.

Why then are you here? Why would God keep His children out of paradise a single moment longer than was necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the battle-field, when one charge could give them the victory? Why are His children still struggling, as through a maze, when a single word from His lips would bring them to Heaven? The answer is - they are here to “live to the Lord”, and bring others to Him. “None of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's” (Romans 14:7-8).

He keeps us here as sowers of good seed; as ploughmen to break up the fallow ground; as ambassadors of Christ. We’re here to be the "salt of the earth" and “the light of the world”. We’re here to extend to others what God did for us. We’re here to “warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

So, “walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).