Daily Devotional for Saturday October 23, 2010

We all Get so Bogged Down in the Day-to-Day Activities of Life

(Luke 12:16-21)

We all get so bogged down in the day-to-day activities of life, we can lose sight of the big picture. One of the goals I have each day is to help you stay focused on the "big picture". The ultimate "American dream" is to win several million dollars, buy a huge home, new cars, quit your job...then? That becomes the big question. When you have all those things you ever dreamed of, when you have accomplished all of the things you strive for...then????

In today's scripture, we read about a man who could have easily been living in the year 2000. Obviously very talented. Obviously very goal-oriented. He had his plan, followed it through, got everything he wanted....then, the Lord says, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you."

You see my friend, this Devotional in no way is meant to tell you that your goals are not important. It is in no way meant to tell you that you should not strive to have the best things this life can offer. There is nothing wrong with that at all. What I am trying to get you to hear this day is that you MUST keep your goals prioritized and in perspective. To simply let your goal be "get all I can now" is a bad goal.

The Bible says, "what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul." That of course is for an unsaved person who wants everything, but eventually must realize that there is an eternal life when this one is over, when all of those things you accomplish and gain in this life have no meaning. While we work on our worldly goals, we MUST keep focused on our eternal goals.

Those things we gain in this life will be gone the instant our life is over and we pass into eternity. At that point, the ONLY thing that matters is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I have said it often and will continue to remind you of this fact. The ONLY thing we take from this life into eternity is our personal relationship with Christ.

That is why I harp constantly on that intimate daily walk with Him...through the Word, through prayer. At that instant when this life ends and eternity begins, that personal relationship with Christ is all that will matter. With that being the case, why do we spend so much time on striving to accomplish things in this world that will one day be meaningless, and so little time on our walk with Christ, which one day will be all we have?

I love you and care about you so very much. Each day I do my best to open my heart to you and allow God to pour through me meaningful things that will help you in your daily life. My challenge for you this day is to not get so focused on the goals of this world, that you lose sight of your eternal goals.

Work just as hard on your relationship with Christ, as you do in your day-to-day work here on earth. Don't let the things of this temporary world consume you to the point you miss the eternal goals we all should be working on. We need to be careful. The media and our culture pushes us daily to "have it all". We get so consumed with that message, that we forget we can never have it all, unless we first have Jesus.

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller