Sunday God Meets Monday MomUkázka

When tent camping with our girls, we had a beautiful spot on the edge of a lake. The girls explored while we pitched the tent. Within minutes, our middle girl started yelling, stuck knee-deep in mud at the lake’s edge.

Everly had trudged thirty feet out into the thickest mud I have ever seen. There was no way I could reach her without getting stuck, too. I pushed large branches out over the mud and walked on them like a balance beam, adding another branch to the end until I had fashioned a bridge of sorts until I reached her.

I grabbed her under the arms and pulled as hard as I could. With the suction sound of slurping mud, Everly’s foot slipped out of her boot, completely buried in the mud. I lost my balance and managed a few steps along the branch before my foot missed and sunk deep into the muck. Wrestling my foot free, with my tennis shoe left behind, I struggled through the mud until we reached dry ground.

While Nathan took care of Everly, I braved the branches once more to retrieve the two lost shoes. Later, Nathan asked why I did that. In retrospect, saving the second-hand shoes was not worth risking the mud again. Why hadn’t I considered just leaving them behind?

READ

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? (Matthew 16:25-26, NLT)

APPLY

The priorities we set in our spiritual lives can get muddy as well. We look at those around us and make a list of necessary tasks to achieve a full life. The list may include raising successful children, gaining notoriety in a professional field, or getting attention on social media.

I had to cross the mud to rescue my daughter, but going back to get the shoes was unnecessary and unwise. It is the purpose of an action that gives it value. In the same way, when our end goal is to bring God glory, whatever we work at is worthwhile. It is not our actions, but our purpose that gives our effort value.

When our purpose is to glorify ourselves, even our most noble actions can only lead to meaninglessness. The most important question we can ask ourselves as Christians is not what to do, but why we do it. Let’s not risk doing something great, only to find that it accomplished nothing of value in eternity.

PRAY

Father, thank You for giving me an eternal purpose. When I consider what next step to take, help me spend just as much time considering why I should take it. More than anything, I want my life to bring You glory.

REFLECT

What good action am I taking for a meaningless reason?