3/10/2021 – Pastor Brian’s Blog –
A friend told us about this diet that Judy and I have been on for the past two months. Between us, we have lost 57 lbs which is pretty exciting to us. It doesn’t just happen though, every Monday morning we get on the scales to check our weight to see how we did. Every day Judy makes sure that we are eating the right things. Then we are constantly keeping each other accountable as well as encouraging each other to stay faithful to the diet.
In our spiritual life I don’t think it is a bad idea to check our “weight” either. Maybe not every Monday, but periodically check to see what is truly important to us. Check to see what we are devoting the majority of our time and resources to. See if you are living a balanced life between this world and the next, to make sure that you haven’t taken on added “weight” from this world.
These times of spiritual “weigh ins” are paramount, because it is so easy to take on weight and not even realize it. Not necessarily taking on bad things… I think most of us would say “what I do is not bad…” yet we do not want to realize too late that we have lived for good things at the expense of better things. We have lived for the temporal and not the eternal.
Jesus was speaking to His disciples and He was encouraging them to keep the main thing, the main thing, when He said… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
This was Jesus’ advice: set your sights on home. Not your temporal home but your permanent or eternal home. You may be enjoying this journey right now that we call life, but it is only a journey and not the final destination. Those that choose to enjoy the journey at the expense of the end destination, are settling for far less than what God wants to give them.
In God’s narrative, this life is but a mist, just a brief moment in eternity. It only offers a faded glimpse of what God wants us to receive in heaven. So make sure that your bucket list is not full of “brief moments” of what this world offers, because after all is said and done, that bucket will be empty. But seek first His kingdom and take home a bucket that will be full and running over!
Maybe it is time for you to check in and weigh yourself spiritually. It’s time to find someone who will hold you accountable so that you will lose the weight of the moment and replace it with the eternal. You can begin by asking yourself, ‘What have I done this past week that will count for eternity?’ What do you plan to do next week that will impact eternity? It is so easy to go with the flow, to take on the good things at the expense of the best things.
My friend Don Wyrtzen wrote one of my favorite songs, “Finally Home.” In light of what we have talked about today, I want to share the chorus with you, with a slight edit at the end…
“Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven
Of touching a hand, and finding it God’s
Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial
Of waking up in Glory,” and… realizing that you brought nothing of eternal worth with you.
I have heard it said that one can become so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good. I don’t believe a word of it. I have found that people who have lost the weight of the temporal, and seek God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness first, they do much earthy good because they have focused on home!