This one was long overdue...but this is something that I need to hear right now for my own sake, because I've been living in sin. I want to start this with a few verses out of Matthew that I looked up.
4:19-20 - "'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him."
8:18-22 - "When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.'' Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' Another disciple said to him, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus told him, 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'”
10:37-39 - "'Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
19:20-22 - "'All these [Commandments] I have kept,' the young man said. 'What do I still lack?' Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth."
There's a theme going on here, and one which I've failed to keep lately: follow Jesus. There was a new perspective that I began to take once I began my life in the workplace, and that was how to truly live eternally. There's so much that's involved with that...you have to be completely set in Christ and able to accept everything that comes your way. You even have to be ready to lose everything if that's what it takes, because we're promised treasures in heaven. Another verse from Matthew which I love is 6:19-21 where Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Wow. What do we consider our treasure? TV time? Friends? Video games? Maybe for girls it's clothes or shoes? How much of what we invest, whether monetary or otherwise, could be used to advance God's Kingdom? Well friends, I faced a tough reality tonight that led me to do something I never thought I would do.
To me, video games seem relatively harmless. It's generally a good way to unwind after a long day (as long as I don't lose my temper at them...yeah). But is it really the best way to spend my time? Well...it's harmless right? I suppose it might be unless it turns into something more than that. Today, I made a long to-do list for myself, hoping to get a good deal accomplished (one item was to write this note...glad it's happening). But I honestly didn't get a whole lot accomplished, all because I sat in my room and played Madden most of the day. Pathetic. And to make matters worse, I got a call from Phil and realized that it was Monday...Bible study night. Obviously I didn't make it. I traded an opportunity to grow closer to God in a group environment...for Madden??? "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I was completely disgusted with myself...so I did something I never thought I would do. I hung up the phone with Phil and looked at my paused game on tv. I opened the lid to my gamecube, took my Madden cd, and snapped it in half. I could barely believe what I did, but I was happy I did it.
For too long my treasure has been on earth. My investments have been in myself and in pleasing myself, rather than investing in the needs of others and in God's Kingdom. So...how do you go about storing treasures in Heaven? Jesus provides the blueprint to everything we need in the gospels, but it all starts with trusting God with EVERYTHING. I've heard a lot of people ask,"How do I trust in God?" And every time, I feel like it's a foolish question. Well...how do you trust in anyone else? You make yourself vulnerable and say, "It's in your hands now, I trust you." It's the same exact way with God, except God gave us an entire book of promises saying "I won't let you down". But I'll be perfectly honest...it sucks sometimes. Trusting God on this fallen earth simply sucks sometimes. Why? Because God never promised that our life here would be easy. In fact, Matthew 10:22 says "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Yeah, Jesus basically promised that life here will suck. But that's why living eternally is so important and why (speaking to myself now) we have to refuse our own pleasures for God's Sake. When we fully put our trust in God and not in friends or games or possessions, we may not enjoy the result, but we can ALWAYS be joyful due to the fact that we earned ourselves some shiny trophies in Heaven.
In their song "Everything", Pillar (my all-time favorite band) asks the simple question "are you willing to give up everything?" So...am I? Cracking a Madden cd in half is only a small step to being the man God wants me to be. The relentless pursuit of God's will is an extremely difficult road for the time being, but we're aliens on this earth and our real home is in a place where we get to worship God freely for all eternity. I can't think of anything more awesome than that. I hope this can be an encouragement to others to truly look at your lives to see if there's anything getting in the way of your view of God. If there is, GET RID OF IT!!!!! And if you think you won't be blessed for it, take a lesson from Job, the ultimate sufferer in Job 42:10 - "After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before." Twice as much.
Matthew 6:33 - "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Join me friends...let's forget about this crap on earth. Let's serve others and devote our lives to fully serving the Kingdom. Let's live eternally.
4:19-20 - "'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him."
8:18-22 - "When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.'' Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' Another disciple said to him, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus told him, 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'”
10:37-39 - "'Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
19:20-22 - "'All these [Commandments] I have kept,' the young man said. 'What do I still lack?' Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth."
There's a theme going on here, and one which I've failed to keep lately: follow Jesus. There was a new perspective that I began to take once I began my life in the workplace, and that was how to truly live eternally. There's so much that's involved with that...you have to be completely set in Christ and able to accept everything that comes your way. You even have to be ready to lose everything if that's what it takes, because we're promised treasures in heaven. Another verse from Matthew which I love is 6:19-21 where Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Wow. What do we consider our treasure? TV time? Friends? Video games? Maybe for girls it's clothes or shoes? How much of what we invest, whether monetary or otherwise, could be used to advance God's Kingdom? Well friends, I faced a tough reality tonight that led me to do something I never thought I would do.
To me, video games seem relatively harmless. It's generally a good way to unwind after a long day (as long as I don't lose my temper at them...yeah). But is it really the best way to spend my time? Well...it's harmless right? I suppose it might be unless it turns into something more than that. Today, I made a long to-do list for myself, hoping to get a good deal accomplished (one item was to write this note...glad it's happening). But I honestly didn't get a whole lot accomplished, all because I sat in my room and played Madden most of the day. Pathetic. And to make matters worse, I got a call from Phil and realized that it was Monday...Bible study night. Obviously I didn't make it. I traded an opportunity to grow closer to God in a group environment...for Madden??? "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I was completely disgusted with myself...so I did something I never thought I would do. I hung up the phone with Phil and looked at my paused game on tv. I opened the lid to my gamecube, took my Madden cd, and snapped it in half. I could barely believe what I did, but I was happy I did it.
For too long my treasure has been on earth. My investments have been in myself and in pleasing myself, rather than investing in the needs of others and in God's Kingdom. So...how do you go about storing treasures in Heaven? Jesus provides the blueprint to everything we need in the gospels, but it all starts with trusting God with EVERYTHING. I've heard a lot of people ask,"How do I trust in God?" And every time, I feel like it's a foolish question. Well...how do you trust in anyone else? You make yourself vulnerable and say, "It's in your hands now, I trust you." It's the same exact way with God, except God gave us an entire book of promises saying "I won't let you down". But I'll be perfectly honest...it sucks sometimes. Trusting God on this fallen earth simply sucks sometimes. Why? Because God never promised that our life here would be easy. In fact, Matthew 10:22 says "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Yeah, Jesus basically promised that life here will suck. But that's why living eternally is so important and why (speaking to myself now) we have to refuse our own pleasures for God's Sake. When we fully put our trust in God and not in friends or games or possessions, we may not enjoy the result, but we can ALWAYS be joyful due to the fact that we earned ourselves some shiny trophies in Heaven.
In their song "Everything", Pillar (my all-time favorite band) asks the simple question "are you willing to give up everything?" So...am I? Cracking a Madden cd in half is only a small step to being the man God wants me to be. The relentless pursuit of God's will is an extremely difficult road for the time being, but we're aliens on this earth and our real home is in a place where we get to worship God freely for all eternity. I can't think of anything more awesome than that. I hope this can be an encouragement to others to truly look at your lives to see if there's anything getting in the way of your view of God. If there is, GET RID OF IT!!!!! And if you think you won't be blessed for it, take a lesson from Job, the ultimate sufferer in Job 42:10 - "After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before." Twice as much.
Matthew 6:33 - "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Join me friends...let's forget about this crap on earth. Let's serve others and devote our lives to fully serving the Kingdom. Let's live eternally.
