Time and again I have to remind myself to remember what really matters. No matter what’s going on in my life or yours, what we are doing for Jesus is all that will count in the end. So many things fill our days and compete for our attention that it is all too easy to have our time consumed by everything but Christ. Several days or even a week or more can roll by before I recognize this issue creeping into my life. It’s particularly bothersome when my starting point is always to do something for Jesus, and along the way, Jesus gets left behind. We start moving in our own strength and following our own ideas instead of moving in sync with Him.
Awake and Alive
There’s something very wrong with Christianity today. There are too many saying they believe in Jesus but living their lives as if He doesn’t exist. There are many others who at least put on a show to make it look like they love Jesus, only to revert to their true selves when no one else is watching. Our churches are filled with people proclaiming the name of Jesus every Sunday morning, but once they leave they do everything they can to hide their so-called faith. The result of this is a world that is increasingly violent and hostile. Until true believers in Jesus, people like you and me, begin to live out our calling and the mission of Christ, our world will continue to spiral downward. And we will be accountable.
The Only Name that Matters to Me
My wife is a big fan of the band Big Daddy Weave. While they’re not exactly my cup of tea, as a writer I love a great lyric, and their song “The Only Name” certainly qualifies as that. The song begins with the following words:
“Yours will be/The only name that matters to me/ The Only One Whose favor I seek/The only name that matters to me“
The song is a huge hit, and thousands upon thousands of people are singing it all over the world. While attending a different concert recently, I looked out over the huge crowd of Christians gathered together singing in one voice. I thought of the Big Daddy Weave lyric and wondered, what if we all actually meant the words of that song?
Living for the Emergency
The wisdom of A.W. Tozer never ceases to astound me. Let me share some words of his I recently read: “Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done, but by how much I could have done! In God’s sight, my giving is measured not by how much I have given, but by how much I had left after I made my gift.” He goes on to say that “[Jesus] sacrificed many pure enjoyments to give Himself to the holy work of moral rescue. His conduct was determined not by what was legitimate or innocent, but by our human need. He pleased not Himself but lived for the emergency; and as He was so are we in this world!” (“Renewed Day by Day Volume 1”, 2/19)
Becoming
Earl D. Ramacher said, “I become today, by what I do with what God gave me, what I will be in the life to come. Today is a day of becoming. Then will be a day of being what I have become.” This is a truth that followers of Jesus must keep foremost in their minds. It’s something typical Christians scarcely consider. What we do today has massive implications on how we will spend eternity. Much like the metaphor of a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world causes a Tsunami in another, our small actions today ultimately will shape and define our spiritual destiny.