Posts Tagged ‘priorities’

Day 293: Isaiah 39:1-8 — “As Long As It’s Not Me”

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.” Isaiah 39:8 (ESV)

This is a prevailing thought in our country today and to an extent it has also invaded the church. Hezekiah was King of Israel and as such his first thought should have been for the welfare of the people and not himself. God instructed those who would become kings in Israel of their obligations (Deut 17:18-20).

How often are we as members of today’s church seeking only what is best for us? I sit in meeting as the work of the church is discussed, and it may just be me, but it seems our personal agenda is more important than the church. Our wealth and toys often have more of our time than God’s work. Where is our focus to be as children of God?

Where do I find myself on Sunday and Wednesday evenings? I know the kids have homework; I I know how it feels to just want to relax for the evening and take it easy. I also know the spiritual lift I get from joining with the church at those times. I know that if I’m receiving a lift then maybe I’m helping to lift someone else. Christianity is not about getting; it’s about giving. It’s not about being served, but serving.

Here is a challenge: let’s get a calendar and for one year mark on it every time we can’t make a work day, or we are out of town on the weekend taking a little trip or visiting someone or we just sit at home during an evening service. Don’t get me wrong; I do go visit my children, I from time to time have something planned for Saturday. My point is do these take priority over God’s church? Look at your calendar a year from now and the answer will be there.

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Day 213: Acts 20:17-38 — Where Is Your Focus?

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Several months ago I walked into my doctor’s office suffering from terrible headaches. I had endured them for several months and did everything I could to cope with the pain. After weeks of testing and different remedies I sat in the waiting room thumbing through magazines and listening for the telltale signs of the doctor about to enter the room. The doctor finally arrived and sat down and told me it was time for a CAT scan. Here’s what took place next…

Me: Doc, what are we looking for?

Doctor: Matt, I think you may have a brain tumor.

Some of you may know that feeling. Some of you may not. For those of you who have, I think that you will agree that nothing will make your heart sink any lower. For those of you who haven’t heard those words, I pray that you never will. What she said isn’t what I heard. She said she “thinks” I might have a brain tumor. I heard, “Matt, you’re dead.”

I got in my truck and steered for my house. How will I tell Leah? Should I tell Leah? What would happen to my girls? They are far too young to be without me. How would my parents and sisters take this news? Who would officiate my funeral? Where would I be buried? Brothers and sisters, before I got home I figured I was as good as dead and I already had one foot in the grave.

But I wasn’t.

The CAT scan showed nothing but a whole bunch of scar tissue from years of being a football player and general idiot. I wasn’t going to die of a brain tumor. Praise God!

Turn with me to Acts 20:17-38 and read along. Here we see the Apostle Paul in a very different light. This is surely a man with one foot in the grave. Read how full of sorrow he is and how much he fears that when he dies that the church will be ripped apart (Acts 20:25-31). He is a man resigned to the fact that the end is near. Yet his heart is focused solely on the work of the church and his commitment to Jesus Christ. Yet, much like my situation, Paul didn’t die then. In fact, Paul did return to Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20) and lived several more years, yet his focus never changed. His service to God and his determination to preach the Gospel of Christ remained at the forefront of his heart.

When death seems imminent, we focus on the things that we hold most dear. I may live for another fifty years or another fifty seconds — I have no idea. However, the lesson I learned was that I must live my life in a state of preparedness for the day that I am called home (Isaiah 55:6).

May God bless you and keep you this week!
Matt

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Day 151: 1 Kings 15:33-17:24; John 5:31-47 — Witness statements, what does your life say about you?

Monday, May 31st, 2010

From Baasha to Ahab, what a crew of misfits and pagans. They might have been merely something to shake our heads over in disgust, but these were kings of Israel! Conspiracy, murder, evil pagan rituals practiced in the land of promise! What a terrible witness to the untaught, unfaithful, and unwitting people who allowed them. The infamous names of Ahab and Jezebel still conjure images of evil only Satan could bring to bear. In the midst of the distress God sends Elijah to warn and announce drought, meant to turn them from the evil, to get their attention. Rather, their evil hearts hardened. Their lives stand as horrible and frightening witness today to those who follow their own wills, desires for money, power, and self.

Elijah found the poor widow outside of Israel who gave to him what she had. Her gift, so small, was rewarded. Her oil and flour did not run out until the rains returned. Her son falls ill and dies, but her faithfulness, although one outside of the covenant, one living among the people of Jezebel, finds reward. Elijah raises her son. Jesus will use this as a witness for her and against the unbelieving of His time who will see Him and, as Ahab’s Israel of old, reject God’s plan for them.

Jesus confronts those who condemn Him for a miracle on the Sabbath. My Father works today. He bears witness of Me. My works bear witness of Me. Search the Scriptures. Do you hear Me? Do you see Me? Do you believe Me? Yet they only heard themselves, approved of each other, saw the very witness of the Scriptures only through the filter of their own goals and will. Do you hear Him?

Whew! That was pretty intense! Yet our lives say something, give witness statements about our values, our loyalties, where we are going in this life and the next. If we could review our lives as though watching a movie, what would we find? We enjoy, sometimes not, talking about family and the lives of grandparents, cousins, and others. What do they say about us? What do our spiritual lives reflect? What do our friends and co-workers see in us? Most importantly, what does our God hear and see in our everyday lives? We will leave our own book of witness. What will it say?

Prayer: Holy, Righteous Father, today help us live purposefully, seeking the grace and blessing You provide and the promises of life to come. May others, seeing us, turn to You, and say “How Great Thou Art.”

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