“At the end, God is going to rescue just two things off this planet, and that is where our focus in life needs to be.” Long, long ago, back in seminary, this statement was made by one of my professors, and obviously, I have not forgotten it. The professor was speaking about the two entities of people and the Word of God which will still exist after this world is gone. The Bible does testify to both the eternality of God’s Word and the people God created.
Focusing on things that are eternal is not a directive just given to seminary students headed for vocational ministry. It is truth for every follower of Jesus Christ. It helps us prioritize life and it assists us in avoiding the many traps of culture. In life, many begin to realize that the “American dream” is quite temporary and does not produce what is advertised. It is important for us to remember what God is going to rescue off this planet. While it is not inherently evil or outside of the will of God to remodel the kitchen, buy a new car, purchase the cabin by the lake, or a dozen other things, we definitely need to remember that these matters are temporary and will fade fairly quickly. It is, of course, true that God designed and created material things and they are, therefore good. Timothy was reminded that God has given all things for us to enjoy (1 Tim. 4:4-5). However, this is true if, and only if, these matters are put into their proper place in our lives. And Timothy is told that putting them in their proper place comes about by prayer and by the directives and principles found in the Word of God. So, it could well be that remodeling the kitchen is the right thing to do.
But the challenge for each and every one of us believers is to be sure that the main things in our lives are people and the Word. And this holds true for all believers in whatever stage of life they might be. So, let’s take a few moments and refresh our thinking on the prioritizes given in God’s Word.
(1) PEOPLE. One factor that motivated the Apostle Paul was his understanding of the true condition of people. He said “we regard no one according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16). Once he was impressed by people with wealth or power. However, he had come to realize that the unbeliever was lost and in a desperate need of a Savior. It made no difference if he had two Ph.Ds after his name; was politically powerful; or was very rich. That one was truly needy. He needed Christ and Paul had the transforming gospel to give. And likewise, the believer in Christ needs what other believers can provide; namely, instruction, prayer support and fellowship. Some believers seem to project that they have got life figured out and are marvelously independent. But no believer alive has reached perfection and is self-sufficient. All need other believers. All too often, we look at the externals in a person’s life and think that they are fine and we can’t be of help to them. That view is terribly wrong. Paul, in his early days (Phil. 3:3-9), put much value on these externals, but now realized that they masked reality.
Titus was instructed by Paul to “let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14). The Apostle had told the Ephesians that God saved us by His grace and that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). And Jesus noted that when people see our good works that will “glorify the Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). Focusing on doing good for others affects both time and eternity.
So, what can we do? First, pray for opportunities to help others and ask the Lord to give us eyes to see opportunities that come our way, making sure that our time and resources are available. Second, we all have a sphere of influence which likely includes friends, neighbors and family and perhaps making a list of these would be a good place to start. We can proactively connect with them via phone, internet, in person or even snail-mail. We can have a ministry of encouragement by letting them know how they have blessed our life through a word spoken or some deed done. We can be supportive of others in prayer but also by letting them know we are praying for them and asking them to share any prayer requests, if they so choose. We can all think of moments when someone gave us a word of encouragement or some act that met a need, and how that lifted us at that moment. We can encourage and enrich the lives of others, but it does mean that we are not passive but pro-active.
(2) THE WORD OF GOD. God and His word are inseparable; to know God we must know His word. We are instructed to study it, as 2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV) states: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” In it believers receive instruction, correction, and encouragement. King Solomon once said that God’s word is like two things: (1) well driven nails (giving solid, stable truths to hang life on), and (2) goads to get us going in the right direction (a goad is a pointed stick used to prod animals back in line). The Scriptures give us truths to secure our lives on and needed prodding to get us back on the right path.
Very few believers would suggest that the Bible is not important. Yet, according to statistics, around 90% of church attenders never open their Bibles between Sundays. Apparently for many. it is not that important. But the eternal Word of God is essential for healthy spiritual living now, as well as a positive, generous evaluation when we appear before Christ at His judgment seat. We need to be people of the Book, not simply in theological theory but in our practice.
To do this, we need to plan our Bible study. With no plan we can probably plan on failing. As believers in Christ, we have been anointed by the Holy Spirit, which gives us the ability to understand the truth of God (1 John 2:20, 27). This point is strategically important because so many believers have convinced themselves that they simply cannot understand the Bible so they don’t really give themselves to its study. With the Lord’s help, sit down and plan out your personal study of the Scriptures month by month. For example, you decide on studying Paul’s “Prison Epistles” (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon) for the month of July. You read those books again and again with pen in hand making observations about truths you see in the text. Ask trusted believers what good commentaries they would suggest. Perhaps August will find you in Jeremiah. The point here is that you establish your studies for the coming months. Now I think that devotionals, like Our Daily Bread and others can be read but they are really not good substitutes for your personal study of the Word. Study requires discipline and it does entail hard work, but the results are many and they are eternal. God the Spirit will teach us, guide us and enrich our lives. And the eternal Word will give direction and insights into many things, including how we can have input into that other eternal entity: people.
Most of us would agree with the professor that people and Scripture need to be the focus of our lives.