What Truly Matters

Philippians 3:8 says "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ". There are many people who put a lot of time and effort into trying to accomplish great things. They want to be remembered for what they did, and they are very proud of all their accomplishments. I'm not saying it's wrong to be proud of what you've accomplished, but we need to remember that what we think is important is probably not the same as what God finds important. What we accomplish here on earth is not going to get us into heaven. What we should be focused on is our relationship with Jesus! That is what truly matters and should be the most important thing in our lives. When we focus on our relationship with Jesus, other things in our life fall into place. Of course, some things in our life may wind up in the garbage because they really are not good for us. Other things we will see are really unimportant. We should strive to accomplish things that have eternal rewards rather than earthly rewards because those are the things that truly matter.

James 5:13 "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise." This morning, my cousin Lorri came to my mind. She lost her husband suddenly a few months ago. A month later, she was diagnosed with cancer. Yesterday, my parents informed me that she was in the hospital because she was in a lot of pain. Due to the cancer treatments, she doesn't have much of an immune system; so when she got sick, she couldn't fight off the germs. Of course, I knew to pray for her when the Lord brought her to my mind because I know that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16b). What I didn't think to do was to be thankful that I was healthy. It's easy to remember to pray when I or someone I love is sick or going through a difficult time. It's easy to be thankful when God answers our prayers. What I was reminded of today was to be thankful and give God praise that I am healthy and not going through any major difficulties. No matter what our circumstances, we should always be able to think of at least one thing to thank God for. Even when God's answer to our prayers is "no" or "wait", we can be thankful that He hears our prayers and is answering them according to His infinite wisdom because He always knows what is best. Let's remember to be thankful for the small things as well as the big things.