Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing

But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

1 Corinthians 2:9


One of the amazing things about faith, I mean genuine faith is its ability to see the end from where you are today. Isn’t that what Hebrews 11:1 teaches us? I have been praying each and every day for some time now, “increase my faith oh Lord, and help me in my unbelief” as I want my life to be about the eternal, I want to keep the main thing the main thing. I came across a couple of quotes about vision and the importance of it in our lives and I wanted to share them with you. It was John F. Kennedy who said, “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.” His brother Robert said along those same lines, “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.” Both of those quotes reminded me of the prophet Joel and the importance in my own life to stay focused on the big picture, and that being God.

The devil works in the world to get our eyes anywhere but on the Lord, off the main thing as it were so as to focus on the trite and the trivial, the temporal. I know the devil has duped me many times with that temptation. Situations that in reality are nothing more than distractions to keep my focus off the big picture, off the main thing, and that being the salvation of lost souls. Remember this, loved one, there are only three things in this world that last forever, God, the Word of God and the souls of men. Those are the main things God desires that we focus our lives on.

One of the greatest joys I have in being a pastor is helping people learn to look up and not down even in the midst of trials, to see by faith that God is alive and well and working to bring each of us to His desired end, and that being with Him in glory conformed into the image of Jesus.

Going through the book of Joel I am reminded how the Lord allows adversity into my life to cause me to look to him and not to man for the solutions to life’s problems. I confess I see the wrong things much of the time; because like you I meet with people all day long who without even trying help me focus on the wrong things, ha.

Just listen to the conversations people have with you today or better yet listen to yourself as you speak to others today. The person of faith, saving faith that the bible speaks of looks at life from an eternal perspective. That's what living in light of the resurrection of Jesus will cause us to do. I remind our church family often, "don't sweat the small stuff and remember, its all small stuff."

What I mean by the main thing is seeing a sovereign God working behind the scenes directing life to its ultimate end. Seeing the big picture helps me to remember that God is in control of my life, not man or even the circumstances I face each day. God is working to bring you and me to Himself, to trust Him, to lean upon Him and not ourselves, to worship Him in all that we say and all that we do.

Joel saw the temporal and Joel saw the eternal as well, and the heart of this amazing prophet was for the people and that they would know that they could trust God no matter what. Even in the midst of a catastrophe God is working. The people could run, they could flee or they could turn to God and watch Him heal and watch Him restore, they could watch Him bless and watch Him redeem.

What a picture it must have been for Joel as the locust devoured the crops and ravaged the land there in Israel and yet without wavering Joel stood there and proclaiming that God is faithful, and that He was working through, not apart from the situation to usher in a blessing like Israel had never witnessed before. Joel got to see the end, loved one, a glorious end where all things will be made new because he set his heart on God, on the eternal God and not the temporal conditions around him. What a great reminder for me today! How about you?

Don’t lose sight of the eternal, of the big picture in your own life. Keep Jesus as the main thing and don’t let the devil distract you by attempting to move your focus off the end of the story, your story and my story, which is ultimately, His story. Jesus is the main thing! Keep your life focused on the eternal, on the things up above and the temporal will take care of themselves. Pray for me, I am praying for you! Take to heart the words of the prophet spoken of in Joel 2:25-26 that no matter what...


“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.” You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame.”

Joel 2:25-26

I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

Recent

Archive

Categories

no categories

Tags

no tags