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 real faith is its ability to see the end from where you are today.   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 remind me of the prophet Joel and the importance in my own life to stay focused on the big picture, and that picture being God.

The devil works in the world to get our eyes off the Lord, off the main thing and to focus on the trite and the trivial, the temporal and not the eternal. At least I know the devil has done that in my life. Situations that in reality are distractions to keep my focus off the big picture, the main thing, and that being the plans and purposes of God. Remember this, loved one, there are only three things in this world that are eternal, God, the Word of God and the souls of men. Those are the main things God desires we focus our attention on.

There really is nothing more important in this life than the souls of men to the heart of God and His desire for us is that we do everything possible to keep our focus on the main thing and not lose sight of it. Heaven and hell are real places and one or the other will be the final destination of the righteous and the wicked.

Going through the book of Joel I am reminded how the Lord allows adversity into our lives to cause us to look to him and not to people for the solutions to life’s problems. I am very capable of seeing 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. Listen to the conversations you have with people 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 try to remind myself and others all the time, "don't sweat the small stuff and remember, it’s all small stuff."

What I mean is the main thing is seeing a sovereign God working behind the scenes as it were 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 the circumstances we each face. 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 could stand there and still proclaim 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.

That's my hope for me and you today, loved one. Don’t lose sight of the eternal, the big picture in your own life. This world appears to be getting more confusing day by day so its even more important to keep Jesus as the main thing in your life and don’t let the devil distract you by attempting to take your focus off the end of the story, your story and my story, which is His story. Jesus is the main thing! Stay focused on the eternal, on the things up above and the temporal will take care of it self. Pray for me, I am praying for you! Remember the words of the prophet today spoken of in Joel 2:25-26 that no matter what is going on in the world around us we have this hope…


“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

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