Six months ago, my family and I went to Hawaii. We were so excited about this long awaited vacation, but as soon as we got to the hotel room, I immediately knew something wasn’t right.
As I pulled off all the luggage from the cart and put it in the room I couldn’t help but notice how ugly the carpet was!
I turn to my wife and say, “Can you believe this carpet!! This is the ugliest carpet I have ever seen!”
She looked at me confused and replies, “What? The carpet is fine.”
We were very tired from the long flight, and everyone went to bed anticipating the fun planned for tomorrow – but I couldn’t sleep as I laid in bed thinking about the carpet in our room.
The family was up and ready the next morning to explore the island, but I told them to go without me because I needed to call some flooring companies and get this carpet replaced.
The next day came and went in the same way because everyone I called was booked out for 3 weeks.
The third day the family disappointedly asked, “are you coming with us today?”
I replied, “No, I have a meeting with the hotel administration to get authorization to replace the carpet.”
The next couple days I spent looking at carpet samples and then supervising the installation.
At the end of the week the project was finally done, and I was ready to see the Island….but now the family was exhausted from the week of fun and just wanted to lay on the beach and relax.
My vacation was ruined!
Obviously, it didn’t take you long to figure out this was a silly, made-up story.
This is simply an illustration how silly we look when concerning ourselves with the things of this world while ignoring the things of God.
We tend to focus on the things that have no impact on eternity, which seems very strange when you consider that the best we can hope for is 100 years and then we are off to eternity. As one of my favorite speakers used to say in his Texas accent, “friend, your gonna be dead lots longer than you’re going to be alive.”
Consider Philippians 4.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Also consider Romans 12:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Let’s put this in perspective:
When we obsess over non-eternal matters it shows an unreasonableness, we are doing exactly as the rest of the world and not only does it indicate a lack of trust in God, but it robs us of peace. As we see in Philippians 4, the peace of God surpasses all understanding. When we trust God, cast all our worries on Him, the world sees that and scratches its head, asking, “how are they so calm, how do they have so much joy!?”
This gives opportunity to say, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds my future and I am trusting in Him, the King of kings.”
The world hears this and immediately is thinking you need to be fitted for a straight jacket, but what does God’s Word say about the wisdom of this world in 1Corinthians:
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.
The Word also says:
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
But, non-conformity to this world is more than a good idea; let’s take a look at what John (an Apostle of Jesus) and James (the half-brother of Jesus) have to say about it:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
What does a “friend” do?
A friend spends time with, has many of the same likes and dislikes; a friend often has the same opinions and desires.
So, we must ask ourselves, am I a friend of this world?
Do I prioritize time in God’s Word or social media?
Do I focus more on my physical appearance or my spiritual condition?
Am I investing time in prayer and fellowship, or my hobbies and streaming?
Like most of my writing, I am preaching to myself – even as I wrote the above three sentences, I felt the weight of conviction.
None of the “OR” items are bad in and of themselves bad things. Social media can be edifying, encouraging, and educating if handled correctly. Working out and eating right are good things to do. Hobbies and unwinding with a show can be helpful.
But that isn’t the point of contention. The question is; “is God’s Word, prayer, and fellowship a priority, or an afterthought?
Which lands me on one of my favorite quotes:
“We don’t have a time problem; we have a priority problem.”
It is my hope for all of us that we prioritize the things of God and not the things of this world.
