Hold On To God

Treasures on Earth...is this God's Will?

The bible tells us not to store up our treasures on earth, but store up our treasure in heaven. This means that our focus should only be on God and eternal things ( Matthew 6:19). Yet I am sure that many can agree that sometimes we find ourselves seeking to be fulfilled in this life and this life alone, without God! Sometimes we may even think that God is in the midst of our pursuit of the world's riches. Sadly, we don't really see that God wants to be our main affection and  wants to see if we will just be willing to know and serve him without the attention and glory for ourselves. Yet instead we idolize things, people, status, and for many Christians even ministry. We claim that we are doing it for the glory of God yet we end up doing it for ourselves and as a result we are not doing things in faith any longer. Rather, we are doing things just to feel good about ourselves or out of fear. As a result, we are burdened for no reason other than for the fact that we have taken it upon ourselves to try and fulfill roles we are not meant to fulfill.

The reason I have chosen to write about this is because I have been seeing this on a consistent basis with many who proclaim to be Christians. We are steadily reaching for the highest status to attain, instead of being content with the fact that we have God. We work hard in ministry, we work hard to please everyone around us but fail to have fellowship with God. Simply, because we are just too busy. Why are we so busy? Many times it is to fulfill a void that we have...a longing for something greater than this world. However, we have to learn to turn our attention back to Jesus. This means that even if we lose everything, our riches, opportunities, family members, degrees, our sanity we should still be able to have joy when thinking about Jesus and the fact that one day he will return to us if we remain in him (John 15). The reason that I speak so freely about this matter is because I have experienced this over the last few years. I have tried to fill voids by doing a bunch of ministry stuff that has served no true profit to my relationship with God although I thought it would. For a while I did not realize that serving God is to be done simply out of gratitude and because the Lord tells us that faith without works is dead. Even then we should not look to be rewarded publicly (Matthew 6:1). Neither should we look to be saved through these things. In addition, on many occasions we are looking for the next biggest thing to happen in our lives or to get our breakthrough but let it be a reminder that Jesus is the biggest and greatest thing to ever happen to us. Our hope is in him and he is our way out of sin and to eternal life, however, we will not be totally set free until we are taken away from this world and given new glorified bodies. Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me" (John 14:6). This means that not even our good deeds that we are asked to do will get us into heaven. What will really matter is whether or not we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and held on to our faith in him.

This has just been something really heavy on my heart lately. Simply, because I see many growing restless, including myself sometimes, afraid that Jesus will not hold fast to his word and afraid of losing earthly status and a secure future in this world. But I am asking you to let Jesus be enough...do not store up your riches on this earth but in heaven. He will return soon! Yes in the meantime continue to serve him in whatever manner it is that he would have you to do so. But when it is time for you to go, be ready and willing to drop everything you are doing and go! There will be no second chances after this...but of course we cannot say that we were without warning. The bible tells us that he will return like a thief in the night (1 Thess 5:2). We won't know exactly when, but he will return and the only way to be ready is to have held on to the gift of God that we received ...that is our faith in Jesus Christ not our good deeds and works but JESUS CHRIST alone! Ephesians 2:8-9

Hope this encourages someone!