eternity

The Least Important Thing

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall diligently teach them to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV

Though I am retired, I continue to manage a large farm, which has been converted into a weekend rental. Among my duties is paying the various contractors, one of whom is a young mailman named Jesse, who along with his wife, clean the place in their spare time after work. The many hours they put in, remind me of myself at their age. Back then, with two teenage boys at home, a mortgage, and a car payment, it seemed we were always short on money. But looking back now some 50 years later, I now realize that the least important thing I did during that time was to make money.

I am not saying that working or paying bills doesn’t matter. In fact, we learn in the Bible that before Adam sinned, and even before God created Eve, Adam had a job. You are probably shouting right now. “What job was that?” Now, if you are wondering, about Adam’s entry level job, it was to name the animals that God brought them to Him. Maybe Adam started with Aardvark, and worked his way through the dolphins, lions, and whales, as one by one, Adam named thousands of animals. Finally, he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep and while he rested, God created Eve. Yes, work is good and a gift from God, but sometimes we begin to juggle a growing collection of tasks in the way that a circus performer sends plates spinning on a variety of different sticks. It is all very impressive until the moment that they all come crashing down. Often the crash that we hear in our lives is the sound of a door slamming shut behind a close friend, a lonely teenager, or an angry wife, who have felt ignored, abandoned, or undervalued. We have forgotten God’s command to not just rush back and forth to church on Sundays and then hurry on to our next activity. God calls us to take time to talk about His words and find ways to weave them into our everyday lives. Those words which created planets, formed the glaciers and waterfalls are more than simply lines to be remembered: they are holy and pure and above all they are words that give us life. Have God’s words stirred your heart today? Then, pause for moment, bow your head in prayer and remember that what matters most of all is that God loved us and sent His only Son, so that we could spend all eternity with Him!

It’s All Small Stuff!

/ pastorpete51 / 9 Comments 
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

Most of us probably remember the saying, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” from the book of the same title by Richard Carlson. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes an even deeper truth clear. There are three things that make up the big stuff in life. Everything else is temporary. Our accomplishments, our financial health and our position in this life only last for a little while. In fact, if we would go back to the beginning of this chapter, we would find that Paul even lists things such as, giving away everything we have to the poor or suffering a martyr’s death in flames are things that pale in comparison to God’s love. When life comes to an end, only three things will fit into our heavenly suitcase. Only faith hope and love will be carried into eternity. The times we prayed for a lost loved one or neighbor as we clung onto our hope in God’s promises, the fearful steps into the unknown that we took by faith because we trusted God knew best, and the loving words, actions or prayers that we gave even when we weren’t being loved in return: will be the only things that God will allow us to carry beyond the Pearly gates. Everything else is small stuff. May the words of C.T. Studd in his poem, Only One Life guide and fill you with God’s faith, hope and love today, because that is big stuff indeed!

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Where is My Heart Today?

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For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 
Matthew 6:21

Monday to Friday my boss always followed the same routine. He’d unlock the office, make a pot of coffee, and with his first cup in hand, he’d check the Wall Street Journal to see how his investments were doing. Of course, today you could just open an app on your cell phone, but the idea remains the same. We focus each day on what we have invested in.

Every morning God gives us a treasure of incalculable worth – 24 hours. As we open our eyes and take our first breath, we begin to invest the treasure of our time. Some good investments are simple, like praying, reading the Bible or kissing our children good-bye before they head off to school. But there have been some days when I faced complex responsibilities, frustrating conflicts, and unexpected difficulties, that things just began to spin out of my control.

Will I still spend time listening to my child talk about their day when I am tired and late for an appointment? Am I still ready to apologize for harsh words I said to my wife this morning? Did I congratulate the person who got the promotion I was hoping for? Each time we choose other people and God’s plan over ours, we are investing in things that have eternal value. Every visit to a hospital room, every need quietly met, every tear shed in prayer are investments in things we may never see or touch while here on earth. Every one of our hours, minutes and seconds that pass through our hands will be spent by the time the day is done. Jesus said that how we choose to invest them will determine where our hearts will be. As we drift off to sleep, maybe we should ask ourselves, “Where was my heart today?”