• What Really Matters

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    If you asked me at 14 what my future would look like I would have told you it involved completing my university degree, getting a great job, buying a fancy house in a prestigious neighborhood, getting fancy car like a BMW and then retiring at a young age. If you asked me now what I want my future to hold, I wouldn't name any of those things. Somewhere between coming to know Christ at 16 and now, I have discovered what really matters and couldn't care less about any of the things that captured my attention before.

    Our Desires Change


    This phenomenon isn't something only I have experienced. We hear stories of those who desired to become millionaires who are now out on the mission field. Stories of those who were once workaholics who now put their jobs after God and their families. You see, once we get to know Jesus and start living life according to His principles, our desires change and become less like the worlds and more like His. And not only is this a good thing, it's also a God thing.

    The apostle Paul expressed it so well when he wrote:

    "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage so that I may have Christ and become one with Him." Philippians 3:8


    Discovering What Counts


    Paul's words still echo Truth to this day. You may not even realize it's happening, but the closer you become to Christ, the more and more you discard the things of this world. What seemed so important now looks kind of ridiculous in the light of the knowledge that this life is short and our time here is better spent investing in things that will impact our eternity, rather than on activities that will elevate our status or inflate our bank account.

    Now am I saying you should quit your job and never buy a car? Absolutely not. What I am saying is there's nothing wrong with meeting the practical needs of living. The problem comes when we take something that is supposed to be a tool like a house to put a roof over our head, and instead elevate it to something that defines us. Because as the Bible teaches us, when we are followers of Jesus our lives are measured by a completely different standard than they were when we were living according to the worlds standards. Jesus' way teaches us to take our eyes off of our things and instead keep our eyes fixed on Him and the things of the Kingdom of God. This is illustrated in Luke 12, when someone asked Jesus to instruct his brother to divide their father's estate with him. Jesus refused, saying no one made him a judge over decisions like that. But He didn't leave it there, He said:

    "Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own." Luke 12:15


    A Second Warning


    And if that wasn't warning enough, Jesus taught us the place money and possessions should have in our life again when He stated:

    “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money." Matthew 6:24


    So how do we abandon the race to accumulate and exchange our desires of bigger and better with the desires of building God's kingdom instead of our own? Keep pursing Jesus and getting to know Him. As we grow closer to Jesus we find the old desires fade away and are replaced with desires for the things of God. Because the more we see the world around us through Jesus' eyes, the dimmer the things of this world will seem in our own vision.

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