what really matters

What Really Matters?

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I can’t tell you how much I wish everyday I could speak and interact with people as a dying man. I was cogitating about what really matters after listening to a brief portion of a  John MacArthur’s sermon. The sermon was from Roman’s 1 where the apostle Paul made the following statement

“16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,[e] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith”

Romans 1:16-17

That really got my attention because lately I have been so swamped with work, toiling incessantly just to make ends meet. I find myself constantly restless; while I’m completing one task, something else comes to mind and I get the overwhelming sense of chasing after the wind. There is a reason why the book of Ecclesiastes is one of my favorites books of Holy Scriptures.

The book was attributed to King Solomon , he made this striking statement after his thorough analysis of what really matters in life , and I quote 

“  here is the main duty of man , fear God and shun evil “

The fear of the Lord, according to Scripture, is the beginning of wisdom.. I’d like to touch on the fear that was expressed, but first, I’d like to share something intriguing that happened to me a few days ago on LinkedIn, a gentleman wrote the following post

“Do you believe in the power of 🤫 “The Secret’? People have been seeing the law of attraction 🧲 as some kind or fiction 🦄 for years now…As someone who read multiple books 📚about this subject matter in my time; I can say without hesitation: The Law Of Attraction Does Work. Many people today still doubt the true power of Law Of Attraction as described in several books like, The Secret. One of the most famous doubters of The Secret is Jordan Belfort, who famously said in a speech that he tried visualization but “the checks never showed up at my mailbox.” Let’s compare what Jordan Belfort had to say about The Law of Attraction with a famous quote of Jim Carrey telling the story about how he achieved success 🤑 through the power of manifestation:  “I wrote myself a check for ten million dollars for acting services rendered and dated it Thanksgiving 1995. I put it in my wallet, and it deteriorated. And then, just before Thanksgiving 1995, I found out I was going to make ten million dollars for Dumb & Dumber. I put that check in the casket with my father because it was our dream together.”  Jim Carrey Why did The Secret work for a famous actor, Jim Carrey and supposedly not work for the world’s most notorious stock market insider? You see that’s one HUGE misconception 🤥 about how The Law of Attraction works as many believe it simply works like magic. Apparently, this is what Jordan Belfort mistakenly believed! However, taking action is actually a BIG part of The Law of Attraction. Jim Carrey makes this point clear in an interview 📺 with Oprah when he said, “Well yeah, that’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and then go eat a sandwich.” The Law of Attraction 🧲 may not work for everyone, but there are still ways to make it work. If you’re in this camp – we can gain further understanding about how The Law operates and why some people aren’t seeing results by analyzing Jim Carrey’s motivational quote: “Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or stay afraid of taking them” You see once you get a message out into the universe. Then Life starts putting easter eggs for what I call “the answer path” all around us – these opportunities pop up to help give direction if only one would take them! These easter eggs🥚could show up in your life as a recommendation to read a book, listen to this podcast. You never know when these opportunities will come so why not seize them? That’s what Jim Carrey says! For The Law of Attraction 🧲 to work you must be open to nearly every opportunity that comes your way. To do this requires an attitude of “YES MAN.” 

Basically it all came down to his definition of success, he had a narrow view of what success was, because he had a very biased view on what really mattered in life. And by the way, the law of attraction is pure nonsense, a delusion. The universe doesn’t have a mind of its own, it was created because it had a beginning. The natural laws that we abide by also have an origin- God who exist objectively and is sovereign over all things that take place;, in other words, there is no maverick molecule out there. And anything that happens whether good or bad is a result of the sovereign will of God who because of His goodness, gives us the ability to use our God-given talents to bring about his purpose. If the law of attraction worked, then I know of several individuals who wouldn’t be in the predicament that they are now.

I usually avoid responding to topics that I know will spark controversy, but his statement so grieved  me  that I felt compelled to respond. In the final analysis of things, based on my observations of what people under the influence of the schema of the world think,  things that matter  to them are health, wealth , enough savings in the bank account for the drought, a great family, things along these lines.

Can We Know With Certainty That God Is Real, What Are The Implications

What really matters to you?

While wanting health, wealth, stability, a wonderful family, and other material possessions isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, is it really all that matters? When I look at someone like Anthony Bourdain, he appeared to be one of the happiest men on the planet. He was a food expert who traveled the world in search of the best tasting food; he visited exotic locations and even had dinner or lunch with former President Barack Obama. But, to everyone’s surprise, he committed suicide in 2018. People aspired to live the lifestyle he led, so what happened?

While he was enjoying his glory days, he made a statement that revealed his untimely death. He once described his body as an amusement park. According to the Bible, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. A person who treats his or her body as if it were a theme park does not treat it as God would have him or her treat His or her body. The amusement park eventually breaks down, and Anthony Bourdain couldn’t bear the thought of facing the breakdown, so he decided to end his life. He, like us, had forgotten what was truly important in life. Unlike Anthony Bourdain, Solomon discovered what truly mattered in life after indulging in an unrestrained lifestyle. God showed Him mercy in accordance with God’s sovereign will, see Romans 9:14-16

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,[b] but on God, who has mercy.

Even Jesus own disciples struggled with understanding what really mattered in life. Scriptures tell us in Matthew 5 :25-34,

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I’ve been wrestling with this text for a while, and I’m still not sure I fully get its meaning or how to apply it in my own life. If there’s one thing I want to leave you with, it’s this: knowing God, which I define as having a personal relationship with Him, is what really matters in life. That is how eternal life is defined. Show me a someone who is fully rested, and I can almost promise that he or she has encountered the living God as described in the Holy Scriptures. I wrote a complete post about the rest of God, see link below

What Is The Rest Of God, A Closer Look At Hebrews 4

While I have a good understanding of what really  matters in life, I have yet to fully experience it in my own life.  But I won’t rest until I’m rested