In our world it seems that everyone is in a hurry. We have inventions, and gadgets that were designed for the sole purpose of making the things in our life more convenient. Even job listings have the qualifier of “must be able to multi-task” as an ability that employers are looking for when hiring new people. There is even an entire genre of restaurants that specialize in selling meals that are ready within a few minutes and we do not even have to get out of our car to get them. Unfortunately, many people apply this same frantic pace when it comes to the two most important things we have: our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the relationship we share with our family.
It is easy to lose focus on the things that are important to us as we rush through our busy schedules. It’s easy to skip Bible reading because of an extra tap on the snooze button one morning then turn around and realize that it is now three months later and the entire time, there was always a reason why you could not read the Bible that morning until you no longer remember it as a part of your normal routine. It’s easy to decide to read your Bible or devotional while eating or doing some other task; after all, we all know how to multi-task pretty well until a few weeks or months later, we really do not see where the Bible reading is adding anything to our lives. There are times we get so busy that we even forget the simplest of tasks that need to be done on any given day. Our families suffer as our extra-curricular, service groups, and jobs demand more and more of our time. In our quest to live rich and full lives, we are doing so many things that often the old expression “jack of all trades and master of none” becomes our life’s slogan.
A few months ago, as the Spring 2014 semester was drawing to a close, I had received an email the last two weeks of the semester stating that a new reporting procedure had been put into place and that when final grades were entered into the system, we would need to log into a different interface to report those students that had not attended class since mid-term. My “tradition” is that I enter the grades for each course after I have graded all the projects and papers for the course. Because of multi-tasking and the sheer number of projects I wanted to get done before the weekend, I forgot to enter the requested (and required) report on time. Thank the Lord that many others forgot it too because the deadline was extended another five days; however, it taught me an important lesson: I needed to decide what was really important within my life.
With me believing up to that point that so many things were important, I was not only not devoting the attention that each required, but very little was actually being accomplished. Some things, such as the video ministry I am involved with, the book project I’m working on, and a few others had fallen so far behind that it is going to take dedication and determination to catch up to where I need to be. In my quest to be productive I had become easily distracted by many other things, each requiring time, but in the big scheme of things, having little value. Jesus taught during his earthly ministry: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh (Luke 6:45), For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Luke 12:34), and Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit (Matthew 12:33). Everything we do without regard to whom or what we do it for can only be classified into one of these categories – it’s either good fruit or bad. Whatever we do that we invest the most work and effort in is what we consider our treasure.
When I began to look at the things in my life in those terms, it became pretty clear that many of the things I was doing were not going to bear eternal fruit in Heaven. It is not necessarily that those things were evil or that there was anything particularly wrong with them, it was just that they did nothing to further the gospel message of the Lord that I serve nor did they relate directly to supporting my commitments made to my employer, my family, or even my church. They were commitments made for nothing better than to elevate my own position and that appealed to my flesh. No one is immune from the desire to increase our own self-image and self-worth. I am reminded of the teachings of the Lord: And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:15-21).
What a powerful thought when it is applied to our daily lives – everything we do is either laying up treasure in Heaven or treasure on Earth. Although I do enjoy being a part of various civic groups, they have no eternal value; things that have eternal value are what matters to God. These are things that either point others to Him or that testify to our faithfulness to Him. How many projects or positions I hold through the American Legion or the VFW does not have eternal value; the time studying God’s word, telling others about the goodness of God, living a lifestyle that testifies that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, being faithful in my worship to Him, and raising my children to love the Lord – these are things that have eternal value. How much money I give to charity does not have eternal value; how I gave to the Lord in support of the local ministry and my attitude towards that giving has eternal value. Our society openly rewards and praises people who spend many hours and give much money to charities they consider as being worthy, yet scoffs at the Christian that does those very same things in service of the Lord Jesus Christ. The question becomes where do we place our focus and God has prescribed to us His guidance: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21). To put it more bluntly, the things that we care enough to put our time and efforts into are where we are placing our treasures. It is these things that when we spend our time, energies, and talents at doing that we name them – through our actions – to the Lord as being the important things that matter to us.
When we begin to honestly desire to see our lives through the eyes of the Lord we begin to realize that so much of our lives are out of focus. In my own life, I have wasted time, money, and energy on things that will not simply not matter. At the time, I justified being so busy with the things that I wanted to do that have little eternal value by claiming that I was trying to make a difference now and not allowing the Lord to show me the things that He had for me to do now that would have brought others to Him so that they may know the joy that knowing Christ brings. Thank God that He always allows us to come back to Him once we realize how far from His plan we’ve strayed.
