Inevitably there will come in one’s life what we might call a showstopper, an event that is so overpowering that it can neither be ignored nor set aside. Life as one knows it comes to the proverbial screeching halt. Nothing else can happen or interfere until the showstopper is acknowledged and appropriately addressed. We are talking about a crisis in a person’s life that eclipses every other untoward situation previously experienced. If it hasn’t happened yet in your life, it will.
In those prolonged, slow-motion moments, maybe encompassing days, weeks, months or even years, every familiar thing in one’s life is subjected to analysis and to evaluation. This is the time when a person reluctantly facing personal tragedy begins to involuntarily sort out in his or her mind the things in this life that really do not matter from what really matters. Some things are so temporal and fickle that honestly, they never really mattered. On the other hand, it becomes increasingly clear that some things have always mattered, they do matter, they will matter tomorrow, they will matter a hundred years from now, and they will matter eternally.
Of course, what has always mattered and what will always matter are things spiritual and eternal in nature in contrast to everything in this physical universe (Matthew 16:26). Especially as one contemplates Judgment (Hebrews 9:27) and the eternal disposition of his or her soul, it becomes obvious that only spiritual things really matter (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:12-15).
Spiritual awareness and recognition of the frailty of the human existence (James 4:13-16) is the new reality. Actually, though, irrespective of whether previously realized, reality has always been the same, but we may have been desensitized to it amidst worldly pleasures, human philosophies and other earthly distractions. The true reason for human habitation on this world is the opportunity to make preparation to meet God (Amos 4:12).
During the time intervening between the present and when we may pass away or the Lord returns again, each of us needs “to seek first the kingdom God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Spiritual treasures banked in heaven need to characterize our pursuits. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV). Christian service, complemented by faithful Christian living, must become the thrust of our lives as Christians. “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time…” (Ephesians 5:15-16).
