At the peak I found myself working 60 plus hours a week with a six digit income, a great title, power, etc.   The problem?  I wasn’t fulfilled because I really wasn’t making a difference.      At a missions conference I heard a missionary make the following statement:   “My greatest fear is not of failing, but of succeeding in something that really doesn’t matter”.    It hit me like a two by four.  I was succeeding in areas that really did not matter in my life.   I realized that when I got to the end and it was my time to be put in the dirt, that what I was doing with my life would not make a difference.  

God used that phrase to change my life.  I realized that the only thing that matters in this lifetime is fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for my life.    The greatest thing that could be said about my life is what God said about King David.   The Bible says that “David served God in his generation and then he died”.   That is what the abundant life is all about, serving God in His way and His will.

Now my time, energy, talent and treasure are used to further God’s kingdom and to change lives.   My desire is to become fully surrendered to God.   I now pride myself not on what I can accomplish but what God can do in me and through me if I humble myself to Him.

So what are succeeding in?   Will that really matter in 200 or 2000 years?  What you do for God now will echo in eternity!

Throughout Luke 15 Jesus shows us what is important to Him.  The first illustration Jesus gives is the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one that was lost.   When He finds the one it says in verse 7  “there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!”

The second illustration is of the lost coin.   “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

The third illustration is that of the lost son.  The son demands his inheritance and leaves to go live his life.  After living wildly, the son’s money ran out and there was a famine in the land.   The son found himself working for a local farmer feeding the pigs.   He became so hungry that the food he fed to the pigs even looked good to him.  After coming to his senses he decided to return home and ask forgiveness from his father.    While he was still a far way off his father, who had been watching for his return, saw him and ran to meet him.   Many of you know the rest of the story of how there was a celebration for the son’s return.  The older son who had been working out in the field came home and heard music and dancing.   Upon finding out what happen the older son became jealous and angry.  

This reminds me of many Christians or “religious” people of today.   We get so caught up in self that we miss out on what really is important.  Notice the brother was out in the field working.   Had he known the father’s heart he probably would have also been watching for his brothers return.    So many get caught up in attending church or teaching Sunday school, etc.  These are good things but the father’s heart is to reach the lost.   The father’s heart is to find that which is lost or dead and give it life.   Are you like the brother that is caught up with himself, doing what seems to be all the right things but never really knowing the fathers heart?  If we truly desire to be followers of Christ and to be authentic then we need to know His heart.   All three illustrations that Jesus gave indicated His heart and what He truly cared about.    As stated in verse 32 the father tells the son “We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

Don’t waste your life doing what seems right or important based on other’s opinions.  Instead, get to know the heart of God and live your life for the things He cares about.

Kevin

Kevin

In my Bible classes I had the students list characteristics of  today’s ideal role models.   Over ninety percent of the characteristics were based purely on the physical!  This should not surprise us because our minds are stimulated by what we see.  That is why advertising is so effective.   Whatever we’re watching and giving our attention to is most likely to persuade us in how we act, live, and think.    

Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us “let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.“    (NLT)

I also had my students list characteristics of Jesus.   Over ninety percent of the characteristics listed were based on the spiritual.   What they see in Jesus is not about the physical at all.   Interesting…    Physical fitness is important (and hard to achieve once lost….stupid resolution!) but spiritual fitness makes us like Christ.   So what is your focus on?  Who is your role model?  Is it someone that seems to have everything going for them on the outside?  What are they really like, inside? 

Let’s get honest with ourselves.  If you’re like me, then the most important thing you can do for 2009 is to develop the characteristics of Jesus.  Work on your vertical relationship with Him.  Take on His dreams and goals for your life.  Let Jesus, the champion perfect your faith.  This will begin the journey to authenticity and allow you to complete God’s purpose for your life.   After all, the physical will pass but the spiritual will last forever!

Kevin

Here some things from the book that will help you work on your vertical relationship and the road to authenticity:

1.      Begin to journal -  everyday start with yesterday.  Write a brief description of people you met with, decisions you made, thoughts or feelings you had, high points, low points, frustrations, Bible-reading-anything about the previous day.  Then analyze it.  Did you make good decisions, or bad?  Did you use your time wisely or waste it?  Should you have done anything differently?

2.      Pray -  balance your prayer life.                                              Adoration – Matthew 6:9                                                         Confession  - I John 1:9                                                          Thanksgiving – 1 Thessalonians 5:18                             Supplication – Philippians 4:6                                                    Listen – Psalm 46:10

3.      Fasting – “But this kind does not go out except by prayer  and fasting”  Matthew 17:21

For 2009, all I need is more of Jesus!