What Is Really Important?

            Our nation’s economic situation has many people wondering what will happen next and I admit I fall in that category.  It seems we are a downward spiral spinning out of control yet I also wonder about our hearts in all this.  People have thousands of dollars invested in the stock market and it’s so volatile, the pendulum swings high one day and low the next.  Some authorities in the know promise a crash and burn, or a fall off the cliff occurrence and others tell you not to worry about a thing, it’s all just a correction.

            There are those, who should the stock market crash, would lose a ridiculous amount of money; their entire retirement; or means of security, while still being overwhelmed with debt.  This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me and I guess it doesn’t have to.  But I can’t help being curious about their faith in God rather than in money.  Clearly the Bible says money is the root of all evil although I don’t believe it’s wrong to have money in itself.  What is wrong is when we let money control our lives rather than God and become so greedy that money is our only focus. 

            We need money to live, to buy groceries, gas, pay the mortgage, clothes, and more.   But do we lose focus on what is really important?  Money is a status symbol.  It projects where you fit in the community.  Jesus said “Blessed are the poor.”  Do you feel blessed?  Would you feel blessed if our economy created the situation where you had nothing but your family to cling to?  Some certainly wouldn’t.  In fact there are those, who in the past, have actually taken their life because they couldn’t deal with the loss.  What does that say about our society?

            And then there is Hurricane Sandy who looms just out to sea, even as I write this.  “She” has already created havoc for hundreds of miles and hasn’t even made landfall yet!  “She” has the means to devastate homes and lives in just hours.  States of Emergency has been issued for many states along the coast; while we each know the cost of this storm is going to be astronomical.  But it’s not really about money that is important, is it?  It’s about where we stand with God that counts. 

It is He who has the power to heal the damage done emotionally, physically, financially and especially spiritually.  We’re in the last days.  As more and more “freak” weather occurrences happen, we can be reminded that God is wiser than any of us and knows the “how” and “when” of all things.  It is He who calls us to Him to take an abiding peace that we can obtain nowhere else.  This isn’t to say, we won’t each have to deal with the disasters as they happen around us and most notably, currently, it is Hurricane Sandy.  But I ask you, as you deal with the material things around you, have you dealt with the spiritual?  Do you know where you will spend eternity?  If not, I pray that you give your life to Him now, before it is too late.

I pray each of you and your loved ones are safe as we all face the unknown this coming week.

For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.  1 John 2:16