Friday May 15, 2020

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration:

Matthew 13:22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Of these three causes to miss the mark, this is, I think, the most dangerous. We are so easily distracted by the pleasures and comforts of this world, and they take our eyes from the target. We pour our energy and focus into worthless and temporary things rather than into the precious and eternal value of the presence of our Father. Like an archer distracted by whatever is happening around him, we allow our attention and focus to be taken up by the cares of this world and stray from the path of relationship with God.

Luke 9:57-62 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” (58) And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (59) To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” (60) And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” (61) Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” (62) Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

This is, undoubtedly, one of the harder passages of Jesus’ teaching. But it dramatically teaches us that there is nothing of greater worth than the pursuit of Jesus Christ. There is no target more valuable than the presence of God. It is worth rejecting every other thing and relationship in this world to obtain. Yet, the things of this world have deep hooks and are hard to release. That is why the Lord declared that is was virtually impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (but all things are possible with God). Yet a prerequisite to following Jesus is to deny yourself and all that is associated with yourself. To leave all and focus solely on that one great target. Only by the total dedication of our selves to that mark, will we finally hit center.

-Jared Freeman, “Missing the Mark”