“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” -2 Timothy 4:7-8
Today, I got to work on time. Yet, when I pulled into the parking lot, and looked in the back seat, I noticed my son had left his windbreaker, which he will need for a day like today. So, I unloaded my things at the office, and went back to the truck so I could make sure he had his jacket for school. A thought occurred to me as I was leaving the parking lot: my kids watch all sorts of people on TV and listen to all sorts of music, some of them talk about what it would look like to be famous. Considering this, I thought about what Jesus said: “What does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world and yet forfeits his soul?”
I got to thinking: how many people, to achieve fame, wealth and power have forfeited their soul, or compromised their values to get there? This is the sort of thing I need to talk to my kids about! It is not a sin to be rich. The Bible doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil (nope, it says “for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,” 1 Timothy 6:10), but it does lead one to many evils to get it. It is not a sin to be wealthy or powerful, but it becomes an idol when that is what your life is about, and you’re willing to do anything to get/hold on to your wealth and power. So, I need to have these talks with my kids: are you willing to do anything to accomplish your goals? Maybe that’s a problem.”
Loved ones, we can take nothing with us when we die. When I stand before God, I want to see Him and hear “well done, good and faithful servant.” I can’t be good and faithful if I live in compromise. And this is the legacy I want to pass on to my kids: be good and faithful to the things God would have you do. Keep the faith. Fight the good fight. Win the race. Don’t compromise to gain anything, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And I, too, will try to do the same.
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 16:24-28
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Colossians 3:1-17
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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