What Really Matters.

Let's get down to the basics here. This is one of those questions like "If your house was on fire and you could only grab one thing, what would it be?" or "What is the one thing you would want if you were stranded on a deserted island?" When you think about life this way, it's very humbling and it puts you in the right perspective: the Kingdom perspective. We have so many distractions in our world today...it's ridiculous. Satan uses our society to create the misconceptions about what we need to make us happy...but are we striving for happiness? Or are we striving for the joy that comes with bringing glory to our Almighty Father?

The question that started all of this was "What if everything I have were to be taken away?" What would my attitude be? What would my response be? How would it affect my faith and trust in our Sovereign Lord? When people saw the way my outlook on life changed after this, would it be a good example to them?

We are called to lose it all. Nothing in this temporal world matters nearly as much as the things of the Kingdom, so we should live this way.

"If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it." --Matthew 10:37-39

As much as we may talk and think about this concept, I don't think we fully understand what that means. Let us not make light of the fact that God has given us everything that we have been blessed with...meaning that He is entitled to take any of it away at any time. And He does so...to test our faith, to strengthen our trust in Him, to give us a wake up call. So, when that happens, how will we respond?

Obviously, the first example that comes to mind is Job. Just the fact that Job was so faithful that God knew he would not turn from God even if everything was taken away from him speaks volumes, but that is for another post. I'm not sure that we fully comprehend the ramifications of this story...Job lost everything. Everything. His wealth, his security, his livelihood, his children, his health. Everything. And he remained true to the God who is always true. After this time of anguish and total loss, when Job had proved to Satan that God was more valuable than all these things, God blessed Job.

"When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!" --Job 42:10

Or we could choose to be ignorant and selfish, like the two people in Luke 9:51-62. When Jesus called them to follow Him, they came up with excuses and said that they would come later. This response is all too prevalent in our culture. How many people do we know who think that they can live the way that they want to (the way that feels good) while they are young and then begin following the Lord shortly before they die. But we are never promised tomorrow. The Kingdom is close at hand. And I know that I would feel ashamed if the Lord came back for us today, because I have not done nearly enough for Him. We must value Him above all else. He is so precious that we don't even have words lofty enough to describe Him...though I will try as hard as I can to do so by living my life to glorify Him.