What Really Matters

It's funny what we can find important.  In the ad, "the whole world" was watching the unblinking woman, pulling for her to claim the world record for the longest time without blinking.  People react as she survives close calls.  There is an absurd sense that those who watched either won or lost vicariously through this woman's strong effort to keep her eyes open.  Though the woman falls short of her goal, to me there was a satisfying conclusion.  All this media coverage, hoopla, anticipation, and heartbreak was generated over something that in the light of eternity didn't matter one bit.

We can be caught up in so many things that affect our attitudes, emotions, and outlook that are pointless from an eternal perspective.  In rugby, a man who kicks the ball wide of the posts is a failure, but the one who places the ball with downward pressure beyond the try line is a hero.  A man who runs the wrong direction on a gridiron pitch is a laughing stock (Jim Marshall once scored a safety for the 49ers with great enthusiasm).  A man who hits baseballs over the fence fair will make millions more than one who always hits them just foul.  Our lives are full of arbitrary events that can make us laugh, smile, cheer, or get angry with frustration.  It's good for us to step back and look at the big picture:  what does it really matter if my team wins or loses?  Who cares if someone keeps their eyes open for 16 hours without blinking?  What does it matter if I secure the big contract at work?  Does it really matter if I have the office with a better view of the city?  What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Isaiah 40:8 reads, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."  The glory of young men is their strength, but men do not stay young forever.  A day will come when that same man will glory in his silver hair and potbelly!  An athlete who wins a gold medal in the Olympics one year may not even qualify to return four years later.  All-Pro gridiron stars make millions one season, and the next they might be working as a bricklayer.  Our lives are constantly changing, but God and His Word will remain unchanged forever.  God's love, grace, mercy, and justice will always remain the same.  Every year a new Guinness Book of World Records is reprinted because so many changes have occurred.  But God's Word and His promises never change.

Instead of placing our attitudes and affections at the mercy of the ebbing tide of worldly affairs, let our lives be founded upon Jesus Christ.  Those who hear the words of Christ and heed them are compared to a wise man who built His house upon a rock.  When the winds blew, when the rain fell, when his team lost, when the lady blinked, the man who makes Christ his foundation remains steadfast, immovable, always abounding in labour for the glory of God.  Christianity is a life built for eternity.  Only Jesus provides us with a life that really matters!