As we read in the Scriptures, those who are led by the passions of the carnal nature will perish and not inherit the kingdom of God. This we must know and keep in mind. But the way to get free of what the Apostle Paul called “the body of death” (see Romans 7:24), which is the result of eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is to eat from the Tree of Life, which is Christ.

          Jesus also taught that love fulfills the law. That is easy to see. If we love God, we will not worship idols. If we love our neighbors, we will not envy them, steal from them, commit murder, or adultery. Love does not harm others but does good to all. We are told in I Timothy 1:5:

         But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

          The goal of all we are learning and doing is love, a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Those who are devoted to growing in these basics are the most attractive, compelling people on the earth. Even more important, they are known in heaven. A primary step to achieving this is to focus less on what we are accomplishing and more on what we are becoming.

          This is not to negate what we are to accomplish. We must bear fruit, such as building the house of the Lord and being the salt and light we are called to be. We want to devote ourselves to our vocation, doing our jobs with excellence as unto the Lord. However, we must keep them in proper order if we are not to get out of order. Our primary purpose is what we become, not what we accomplish, which is a secondary purpose.

          When our lives are set on this foundation, we are ready for the next and highest level of devotion—when it is no longer about us, what we accomplish, or what we become, but rather when our lives are consumed with glorifying the Lord and lifting up His name. This is when we can say with the honesty of a pure heart as the apostle did in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”