What’s Our Problem?
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Matt. 16:26
Difficulties are not hard to find. The average person’s life presents a thorny thicket of problems that have to be dealt with. Indeed, on some days it seems that we do little more than run from one problem to the next. We can hardly get one fire put out before another breaks out somewhere else.
But out of all the things that need fixing, which one needs fixing the most? Which issue in life is the main issue? One measure of our spiritual maturity (and even our earthly maturity) is the way in which we prioritize our problems. The immature give most of their attention to problems that are of no more than secondary importance, while the more mature see the things that matter most and give their primary attention to those things. So if the way we spend our time and the problems we choose to work on are any indication, how mature can we say that we are, really and truly?
Anyone who has read the New Testament will know that it takes a definite position on the question of what’s important and what’s not. Jesus put it in the form of a question: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?” Our main problem is our broken relationship with God. As long as that problem goes unfixed, we are pathetic and profitless creatures, even if we were able to fix every other problem in the world.
Millions of people would say Amen! To the importance of God – gut these same people spend most of their time working on issues other than their spiritual relationship to Him. Our schedule books simply don’t support our claim that spiritual concerns are No. 1 in our lives. We rush through our days, accomplishing little more than the rearrangement of deck chairs on a ship that is sinking.
The daily challenge that confronts us is not only to see what most needs to be worked on, but to keep that concern in the cross hairs of our attention. In the end, it will be evident that most of the “urgent” matters that tried to claim our attention were simply inconsequential. Before it’s too late, we need to stop our frantic fixing of things “out there” and start working on things “in here.”
Reaching Forward (March 19) - by Gary Henry
Sunday Morning
Servant Leadership in the Bible:
Process
2 Pet. 3:14-18
I. Leadership Develops Daily, Not in A Day
a. 2 Pet. 3:18
b. 2 Pet. 1:5-11
II. The Value of Joseph’s Growth As A Leader
a. Acts 7:9-19
b. Psalm 105:16-23
III. Moses Couldn’t Skip the Development Process
a. Exod. 2:5-15
b. Exod. 3:1-2, 7-12
IV. It Took Time for Peter to Live Up to His Name
a. Matt. 16:15-19
b. Matt. 26:69-75
c. Acts 2:36-41
Sunday Eveninng
COVID-19 And the Christian:
Trust God Till the Danger Passes
Psalm 57:1-11
I. David Defeated Danger by Trusting God
a. 1 Sam. 15:1-3; 20-23
b. 1 Sam. 17:1-11
c. 1 Sam. 18:6-9
d. 1 Sam. 16:14
e. Exod. 9:12
f. 1 Sam. 19:1-10
g. 1 Sam. 22:1-2
h. Josh 15:35
i. 2 Sam. 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15
II. Cry of Danger, Plea for Help
a. Ps. 57:1-5
III. Triumphant Trust
a. Ps. 57:6-11
IV. We Defeat Danger by Trusting God
a. Rom. 5:12, 21; Ps. 57:1
b. Rom. 16:20
c. 1 John 2:15-17
d. Matt. 4:1-11
e. 1 Cor. 10:13; Ps. 57:1
f. Matt. 10:34-39; Luke 12:51-53; Ps. 57:1
g. 2 Cor. 12:7-10; James 5:10-11; Ps. 57:1
h. 2 Cor. 11:3-4; Eph. 5:11-16; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 3:17-18; Ps. 57:1
i. Matt. 5:10-12; 1 Pet. 4:12-14; Ps. 57:1
j. Isa. 25:6-8; 1 Cor. 51-57; Ps. 57:1
V. Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me
Father Knows Best
“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit . . . I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.”
Leviticus 26: 3, 4, 12
Have you noticed that rules, regulations, and laws bring out the human tendency to ask, “But why?”
Many of our problems arise from ignoring God’s Word when we don’t think His instructions make sense. Moses tells us that the rules and regulations God gave to His people not only kept them clean – make that holy – before Him, but they also protected them from discomfort, sickness, and untimely death.
In some ways, the law can be seen as God solving a problem before it ever occurs. Moses reminds us that God always knows what is best – for us and for our relationship with Him.