What is the focus of your life?

I sometimes watch the show, “Beastmaster” on Netflix. My daughter got me watching it. It’s an obstacle course show where men and women score points by completing parts of the course. It takes a lot of skill and strength.

Along the course, there are point boosters. These are buttons the contestants can push to get an extra few points. Some point boosters are no-brainers. They are easy to hit and get you more points. Others, however, can be very difficult to get to.

We’ve watched as some contestants spend a lot of time and strength trying to get to a point booster only to wear themselves out and fall, ending their run. They got so focused on getting the extra 5 or 10 points, that they missed out on getting a lot more points by completing the course. They missed the point.

This Life or That?
Sometimes we get so focused on getting the point boosters of life, that we miss the real point. We pursue all kinds of things that won’t truly last and can forget the eternal blessings of God.

It’s not that these earthly things are necessarily bad. After all, in our passage today, Jesus is talking about trying to save our earthly lives. Generally, we would say saving our earthly life is good. However, if it comes at the cost of denying Christ and losing our eternal life, it’s a bad deal. We’re missing the point.

We don’t typically face the decision between our earthly life and our eternal life, but we face the decision between pursuing things of God or things of man. The things of man aren’t inherently bad (money, power, fame, etc.), many godly people have had them. However, if we pursue them at the cost of eternal things, its’ a bad deal. We’re missing the point.

Let’s pursue the things of God.

Heavenly Father,

Give us the eyes to see what is truly important and the discipline to pursue it.

Amen.