What Matters

This post was originally posted on December 6, 2016. It has been edited for the author’s sake and for your’s..

I originally wrote this post to kick off a series called ‘The Fact of the Matter” and labelled it FotM. However, I have stopped that due to the difficulty of the standards that I have set on myself and am helping my friend contribute to this blog with an incredibly ambitious website title. We hope that what we write really does point all things to Christ and that God would use this as a means for you to know Him.

“If God gives you truth it is not humble to act like you don’t know. If God gives you direction, if God gives you verdict, if God gives you command, if God gives you precept, and you act like yeaaa I heard you but ahh I don’t know.. That’s not humility. But the world wants you to think that because they’re always saying who are you to judge?
But the fact of the matter is for you as a Christian, you not only have an obligation but you have a calling from God to exercise a capacity that is His. Exercise the kind of judgment that God is exercising in your life, because God has granted to you both His truth, His Spirit, and His Son so that you might do it.”

Above is an excerpt (links gone sorry PM..) from one of my pastors who says “the fact of the matter” quite frequently in his sermons. After writing this post and revisiting it, I realized that a lot of pastor’s say this, because the Bible blows your mind and changes your reality that often. This post was intended to write about what I believe truly matters in all matters. (WARNING I’m going to be using the word “matter” a lot :D)

Anyways no more commentary about my past posting, let’s talk about what matters.. I’ll start with the past.. 

About ten years ago, I wanted to make a name for myself. I remember sitting in the car with my dad one day, I looked at him and said, “Dad I want to make an impact on the world.” Most parents would encourage their kids to make an impact on the world. Funny thing is my dad said something like, “The world is a harsh place. They might kill you if you try to change the world.” My dad wanted me to be realistic. It is a conversation that I will not forget.. He said that it’s incredibly difficult to make a really big impact on the world. I said things like I want to make history or something, but he said that if you try to do that, then someone greater than you might stop you.

Hmm not very encouraging to some teenager but it was like reality slapping me in the face. I wanted to be some big shot world changer. I had no idea how to do that, but I wanted to do that. If that desire was there, then what mattered to me? Did I really want to change the world?

I think that many people can resonate with desire in some way. If it’s not as big as changing the world, then maybe it’s something similar. I want to be the top of my company, the top of my class, the leader in discovering technology, etc.. Now, these are not bad things, but the big question is why are we doing this? Why does this all matter to us?

The fact of the matter is that we are selfish people.

We focus on our own interests and neglect the needs of others. We elevate ourselves and step on others in order to do so. After climbing on top of others, we look down from our thrones and realize how lonely we are at the top. It’s only a matter of time before we get replaced or trampled on. The cycle continues and has been going on since the beginning of mankind.

Now if anyone was really at the top in terms of worldly standards, then that would be Solomon. He was a king who had everything you could imagine and more. He had incomparable riches, wives and concubines, peace across the lands, and wisdom greater than any other man. He tried to do everything and he did. Do you know what he realized what all that was for?

Vanity..

Life was pointless. What we gain on earth is vanity. It will all fade away. Solomon was not an idiot. It took him his whole life to realize what mattered.

God.

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Our personal pursuits are a dead end if God is not at the center. If we are not living for Him, we are not living at all. In light of eternity, whether we get that job, go to that school, marry that girl, do that thing, go to that place, it doesn’t matter. We can do these things, but if we are not fearing God and keeping His commandments, we will see how vain our pursuits are.

I’ll admit this sounds like a downer. I mean most people don’t enjoy being told what to do by other people and especially people who they think are not qualified. What more for a God that people do not know?  Many people think that God is not qualified to tell them what to do. That’s why people do what they want. They think they know what is good, because obviously, we would know what’s best for us right?

No..

God made us. If anyone knows what is best for us, it would be Him. He reveals what is best for us in His Word. He wants us to live for Him and give Him all of the glory. He wants us to proclaim His promises and remind Him to fulfill those promises. He wants us to love Him and find contentment in Him alone.

Now you may be wondering, wait a second, does that mean I can’t do all this other stuff in the world? I mean people get married and are rich in the Bible, and they’re still Christian.

Yes they do. I can’t tell you what to do. I don’t know who you should marry, where you should go to school, what jobs to apply for, or any of that. The Bible is not explicit in that either. Sorry, but what it does say is more reassuring. God has clear guidelines for not only what He wants His people to do but also what is true about this world. It is laid out in the Bible. If you want to know what He wants You to do, then go read it. Start at Romans or John or something, but it’s there.

When all things pass from this world and we see God, we will know that He is truly what matters, that He knows what matters, and that He is the end of the matter.