God is sharpening my focus in these days. Early morning prayer and scripture reading, which have always been a high priority, have taken on even added significance. How can I give my time to the things in this life that really have no eternal significance? So much of what we devote our lives to really does not matter.
I sit back and watch parents kill themselves so their children can be successful at something. Private coaches are hired. Late nights are endured to complete homework assignments. Everything is a competition and parents fear their children will get left behind. What about honoring the Lord? If a family is devoted to knowing Christ and serving Him, can God not bless the talents and the efforts of that family more than those who compromise? Where are those parents who put the same passion and energy into training their children to love and serve God? By our own priorities we send mixed messages to our sons and daughters. We say God is important. We teach that we are to love Him supremely and give Him our undivided allegiance. That is until sports come up. We enroll them in leagues where they play on Sundays. Sunday is no longer holy unto the Lord. It has become like any other day along with Wednesdays. Things like youth camp used to be important but our summer sports leagues trump even that now. A round of golf is more appealing than worship on Sunday. When dance competitions replace the dancing in our hearts to go to the house of the Lord something is wrong.
We are teaching our children in multitudes of ways that serving God is more like a hobby than the single driving passion of our lives. You fit God into your schedule as your hobby when nothing else gets in the way. Baseball, basketball, football, dance, gymnastics, and so forth all take priority over serving the Lord in far too many lives. For what? What are we giving our time to? Olympic athletes train for years night and day to run a race that will last for a few short minutes. If they are successful they will win a medal that will hang in a display case. Then what? That really doesn’t matter. If sports teams are successful they might win a championship but that is too small a thing to live for. Those athletes should use their platform to point people to Jesus.
The businessman may labor to build a vast empire making a lot of money in the process. When he dies his wealth and business accomplishments stay here. In eternity will they matter? I am thinking of the sign I saw in a house in Canada. I have read this saying in books and one day want this sign in my house. “Only one life to live and ‘twill soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last.”
Does that reverberate in your soul? Can you feel the shaking of God deep within? We have given our time, our days, our energy, and money for things that really do not matter. There is no longer any justification. If we as adults are not making living to know Christ, living for Christ, and expending our energy in His service our ardent obsession, we are wasting our lives on things that do not matter.
I weary of the things in life that compete with Christ. He is the goal. He is worth living for and dying for. He alone reigns supreme and is worthy of all our devotion. He is what really matters. Take it all away. Sports. Entertainment. Video games. Facebook. Fashion. Money. Jesus Christ surpasses them all. How long will we expend our lives for things that do not matter?
I am proposing from this day and every day afterward we strive to live for the glory of God. There is no greater purpose. This matters and will matter for all eternity. Look at your life. Take an honest evaluation and tell me if you are living for what really matters.
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