What do you really want?

A difficult thing to do is how to decide what to do with one's life. It is a question all Christians especially face, but so does everyone else. And particularly Americans, who have no sense of destiny in the choices God has made around their lives, but more of a sense of all the possibilities that are available to them, it can be hard to decide what to do with one's life. So a good question to ask is, "What do I really want at the end of my days?" or "What do I really want?"

In other words, when you or I reach the end of our days, will we be happy if we get what we want now? If what I want now is to have the best DVD collection, and I end up with the best DVD collection at the end of my days, whenever that happens, will I be glad? If I want to have an immaculate yard and the prettiest house, will that satisfy me when I am ready to move onto the next life? If I want to win 2 state basketball championships as a coach, or amass many trophies, or win 500 games, will that make me feel like my life was not wasted when it is over? If I want to be known and adored and fawned over by many people, like Marylin Monroe, for some cleverness I have, or beauty, or ability to do something like shoot a basketball, will I be satisfied if I get that and then die soon after? AND are these the things I REALLY want? That is what I must ask and answer.

The reason I need an answer is because I only get one shot here, and having wasted a life seems to me the most tragic thing I can possibly imagine. I can waste my life. I can end up spending it on what I did not really want and getting what I did not hope for. And have only dust and empty dreams when my days are all done, I will weep and weep and weep. How tragic. But by asking this question now, "What do I really want?", I can begin to formulate an answer that will help lead my down a path to doing what is necessary so that won't be what the end of my days looks like.
As a believer in Jesus, when I ask this question in light of His command to lay up treasures in heaven, I can begin to see that any answer of this question that involves temporary non-lasting things leaves me wanting. From thinking about how God wants to make Himself known among all nations, if my answer about what I really want does not involve God's desires, how can I be happy with it? At least if I want to love Him?
When I think of some believers that have planted churches, or won many people to know Jesus, or tried to do what they could to live in a hostile environment for the glory of God (and perhaps were killed, or tortured), then when I think what I might be able to say to God is that, "Father, I had a really nice house and lived very comfortably for 40 years while I worked in my yard and watched a lot of football games, and I was an excellent chess player," I don't feel so good about that. I don't want to say that.
I don't think this has anything to do with how I earn a living, but with where my heart is centered and what I do out of that. I think it does mean I do all I can do with the gifts God has given ME in my context to make God's glory known among the nations of the world, the peoples of the world, and to bring His gospel to these peoples. If I am faithful to God in this way, then I will be able to be happy at the end of my days about what I really wanted. This is at least a good start down that better road.
But it starts by asking, "What do I really want?", and then compare this to scripture if you are a Christian to see how it lines up with what God wants. This would be one way of obeying Colossians 3:1-4 about setting our minds and hearts on things above, or about obeying Jesus command to seek first His kingdom.
For anyone reading this not a Christian, and if you got this far with my discussion, maybe this question will help you start thinking about the lasting value of what you are pursuing in your life. How valuable is it really? If all we are is dust in the wind and nothing lasts, and having a cold one on the back porch after a football game is as good as it gets, what is the ultimate point? So, what do you really want?