What Really Matters

Saturday, ‎July ‎23, ‎2022

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: Matthew 16:15-16

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Memory verse: Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Today's reading: PSALM 33-34 ACTS 24

What Really Matters

"What difference will it make a thousand years in eternity?" I have quoted my sweet little mother-in-law before. She had a way of cutting through the fat and making any argument just fall away and lose its energy.

But not just in arguments does this reasoning prevail. If we looked at all we do and asked this question simple logic would save a lot of waste. But you don't have to take my sweet little mother-in-law's word for it.

The Message is yet another translation/transliteration of the Bible I go to online sometimes to hear what the Word says in everyday language. From the Message: Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-

"But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.”

Matthew 15:18, in The Expanded Bible, Jesus says, "18 But ·what people say with their mouths [the things that come out of the mouth] comes from the ·way they think; these are the things that ·make people unclean [pollute/defile a person]. 19 [For] Out of the ·mind comes evil ·thoughts [intentions; ideas], murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, ·lying [false witness/testimony], and ·speaking evil of others [slander; blasphemy]. 20 These things make people ·unclean [polluted; defiled]; eating with unwashed hands does not make them ·unclean [polluted; defiled].”

What really matters is what God says-not what the world tells us to think. The enemy is good at making the world sound 'like God'. There are a lot of things which seem 'good'-those programs that seek to fill immediate needs around the world. These programs meet the temporal and physical needs of thousands everyday. The saying goes, 'give a man a fish and he eats for a day; give him a pole and teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime'.

They need all the help they can get in this life and the message of Christ for the life to come- give them supplies and they can live until the supplies are gone-give them Jesus and they can live for eternity.

Jesus says,

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6

What really matters is the final outcome. Will you obey God and walk as Jesus walked and spend eternity with Him along with folks you have introduced to Jesus?

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Forgive me for not using Your wisdom and obeying You. Lead me into Your righteousness for Your kingdom.

Lord of all!

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen