“George saved his brother’s life that day. But he caught a bad cold which infected his left ear. Cost him his hearing in that ear.”
—Joseph, the angel
In our quest for life, human beings seek to attain what we value or bring life genuine meaning. It’s a journey of self-discovery and it comes with joy, as well as adversity. We are learning to be led by the Spirit into the Truth of who God is and in turn his plan for his children. In order to fulfill what we were created to be and do—in the hands of God—we must persevere through both easy and challenging times. Life presents so many opportunities, and we must decide what will have our focused attention and effort. We will primarily seek to cultivate things like riches, relationships, or even recreation; making one our greatest priority. We can have an abundant life, because Jesus died to give it, but we must decide what is most important, because there are limits to our time, energy, money, etc.
In our lesson, today, from the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” we reflect back on George’s early life and we clearly see he values relationships and he will sacrifice for them. He gave up travel and other things to focus on reinforcing relationships and helping others around him. George gave up other areas he thought might bring meaning to his life, because relationships were what he valued most. Therefore, if he had to choose between two good things, he always defaulted to prosper the people in his relationships knowing he would also prosper.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shares with those listening that the world’s temporal goods are fleeting, so it is unwise to be tied to the world. Essentially, Jesus was teaching about priorities and the need to make a connection with our time, talents, energy, and our desires for our lives. How we spend our time and energy, reveals what we care about most.
Bottom line, some things take us closer to God and some things take us further away. We need to direct our attention first to God and then gain a vision for how we can fulfill his plan. Jesus must be our First Love. Yet, our human inclination many times is to do what we want and then ask God to bless it. It does’t work that way in God’s economy. So draw near to God, love and honor him, and he will guide you along your path.
OT Reading: Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
NT Reading: Matthew 19-21 NLT “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
Prayer: Lord, thank you for challenging us to examine our priorities. You must be First in our lives; we know this is the Truth, because everything flows from your throne of grace. And, teach us to treasure our relationships with others, because they, too, are eternal. In Jesus’ name. Amen.