Tending to things that matter

Have you ever stopped to think about all the things we spend time worrying about and working on, and yet they really don’t matter?

I have often asked myself the question “Ten thousand years from now, what will it matter?”.

Somehow this question can help to put things in perspective. Most often the situation doesn’t matter, but my response to it does. Many times the temporary outcome doesn’t matter but how I behave myself in the midst of it does matter immensely. 

Think about it: ultimately it doesn’t matter how long we have to wait at a traffic light, or which team wins a sports game, or who wins an argument. In 10,000 years we won’t remember or care. 

But what will matter is how we brought honor and glory to God with our behavior in the midst of the situation and whether or not our behavior helped others to look to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

• Yeah, we could blow through the intersection angry that we had to wait.
• Yeah, we could lose our patience and “blow our top” when the sports game doesn’t go the way we wanted.
• Yeah, we might be able to show how smart we are and argue down someone else.

But what about pleasing God?

What about helping our neighbor?

What about loving people?

What about getting people into a relationship with Jesus Christ so they can be delivered from sin, guilt, shame, death and hell?

Please don’t be nearly so concerned about having everything turn out just like you want it to in this life. Instead, be completely committed to living in such a way that people will be drawn to Jesus and so that in 10,000 years you will rejoice that God was able to use your behavior on earth to usher other people into His eternal kingdom!