When it comes to our lives – two things are clear. There are more rocks than we’ve got jar space! If we want to make the most of our jar space - we’ve got to make sure to get the biggest rocks in first.
As we come into another fall, there will be lots of “rocks” vying your time and attention. Some of them appear to be big when really they are small. Some of them appear insignificant but in God’s eyes are large.
Question? What, according to God and His word, are the big rocks?
Short answer comes from Matt. 6:25-33
Matt. 6:25-33 (NIV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
If the Q is “what are the big rocks according to God”, the A is “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”
Great. But what does that mean?
Matt 6:33 (NLT) “…he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.”
OK – maybe that get’s us closer. But again, what does that really mean – in practical concerns?
It means that the “big rocks” in our life take us back to eternal things. And as I’ve said before, there are really only a couple of things that last for eternity. Our relationship with God, and our relationships with people. Where do I get this?
When Jesus was asked what the “big rocks” were, his response was…
Matt. 22:34-40 (NIV)
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Here we see Jesus’ answer to the question, “What are the big rocks?”
1. Love God.
2. Love people.
1. Love God
It’s one thing to say “I love God” and it’s another thing to demonstrate it. I can love chocolate but I don’t have to do anything about it. I can love country music but it doesn’t require anything of me. However – Jesus said if you love him, it would be demonstrated through your actions. Here’s a direct quote from John 14:15:
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.
And so, in order for us to honestly put the “love God” rock into our jar first, we have to understand that means a commitment to DOING what God commands in our lives. That’s why he said the first command is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s not just a feeling we have. It’s a relationship with God that permeates everything we do in life.
Quite honestly, God doesn’t want to be one of the “rocks” in your life. He wants your relationship with Him to be something that changes the way you live your life. It changes the decisions you make about what you will spend your time doing.
When you love God – it is something that will be noticed by others. It is something that demands time and energy. It needs to be the first and most important “rock” in the “jar” of your life.
2. Love people.
I’ve often said there are only two things in life that will last forever: our relationship with God, and our relationships with people.
Loving people, like loving God, must go beyond a simple feeling. If I tell my wife I love her, but never spend any time with her or do anything nice for her – then what kind of love is that? IF we truly love people – it will take time and it will take energy and it will take commitment. In fact, when we are committed to loving people, we often have to say NO to other commitments or “rocks” in our life.
ILLUS: Being a father requires I spend time with my children in the evenings and weekends. Loving my neighbors means slowing down and engaging in conversation with them instead of just going inside. Loving my wife means I say no to activities which would harm my relationship with her.
TRANS:
Loving God and loving people. These things, and your commitment to them, is the key to finding meaning in your life.
Do you have meaning and purpose in your life? Do you have hope? Do you have peace? All of these come, Jesus said, when we put Him first in our lives. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.
The problem is too many people decide to center their lives on other things. Money. Pleasure. Themselves. You name it. And when this happens, instead of a life that makes sense – people live lives that become more and more chaotic in a search for something – ANYTHING – to make the unhappiness go away.
If your life seems to be spinning out of control, maybe it’s time to get the big rocks in first. Maybe it’s time you learned the principle that when you lose your life by giving control of it to God ONLY THEN will you find it
Matt. 16:24 ¶ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Matt. 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Matt. 16:26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
ILLUS
Florida State legendary college football coach Bobby Bowden tells a story about a time when he was playing college baseball many years ago.
In all his time on the team he had never hit a home run. Finally he hit one down the right-field line, into the corner. He rounds first and looks to the third base coach. He turned at second, was halfway to third and the coach was still waving him on. He got to home, he hit the plate. He had his first home run, he was so excited and everybody was slapping him five. Then the pitcher took the ball, threw to the first baseman, and the umpire called him out.
[Coach Bowden] said, "If you don’t take care of first base, it doesn’t matter what you do. If you don’t honor the Lord first, it doesn’t matter what else you do." –The Tennessean (9-29-00); submitted by Rubel Shelly, Nashville, Tennessee
In your life – have you taken care of “first base”. Have you submitted your life to God’s leadership, repented from your sins, and allowed Him to begin rearranging your priorities? Or, in Jesus’ words, “have you taken up your cross and started following Him?”
CONCLUSION:
Christian musician Chris Rice wrote a song a few years ago that says this:
Every day is a journal page
Every man holds a quill and ink
And there’s plenty of room for writing in
All we do and believe and think
So will you compose a curse
Or will today bring the blessings
Fill the page with rhyming verse
Or some random sketchings
Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
Somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much
Life means so much
Every day is a bank account
And time is our currency
So no one’s rich, nobody’s poor
We get twenty-four hours each
So how are you gonna spend
Will you invest or squander
Try to get ahead
Or help someone who’s under
Let’s make the days count. Let’s love God. Let’s love people. Let’s pick up our cross and follow Him, and allow him to make good the promise that when we do – everything else we really want will be provided as well.
