Sometimes Robin goes through a whole list of things that she could fix for dinner. “What would you like?” She verbally runs down her mental menu of delectable entrees until one tickles my fancy. “That sounds good!” I respond. And dinner is served! It is only by the grace of God that we can enjoy the privilege of such abundance and I am truly grateful that we do have cupboards that are stocked. In other words, I am thankful that I don’t have to ask, “Do we have anything to eat?” But what I want to deal with here is not whether or not we have food to eat, but am I hungry? You see, she first asks if I am hungry before she asks what it is I would like to have. There is really no point in searching for something for dinner –if I don’t want to eat! Life is full of questions like this. What are we going to wear to the party? Well, we must first know what kind of party we are going to. What our major in college is going to be is answered after we decide what our careers will be. There are some questions in life that must be answered first, before other questions are tackled. Again, I would like to say that we, here in America, are awfully privileged because of God’s blessings upon us. Some of the questions that we deal with in life are so trivial and insignificant that it would be ridiculous to even mention them here. Nevertheless, we must go through this life deciding and answering questions of various degrees of importance.

But I wonder! Do we miss out on a lot in life because we waste time with trivial questions? Or do we ask amiss because our questions are asked outside of their proper time frame? For instance, Jesus said that we should give no thought about our lives, what we shall eat and drink, or about our bodies, what we should wear. He tells us to first ask ourselves, “Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?” In other words, answer those two questions first and the succeeding questions come into perspective. Let me illustrate what Jesus was saying this way. If you are eating for this life only, then go ahead and eat what is going to satisfy the palate and fill your stomach. But if you are going to eat for eternal life, then share your bread with the hungry. We must first answer the question of life’s importance before we can attempt to answer life’s questions. Here’s another example: Jesus said that we should set our treasures in Heaven… for where your treasure is there your heart will be also. Would it stand to reason to first ask the question, “What is it that I treasure?” and secondly, “Can I put what I treasure in Heaven?” For some folks the answer is a resounding, “No!” In some instances, to ask God if we could store what we liked in Heaven would be comparative to the trash man asking if he could keep his garbage at our house. Life is full of questions. You would do well to begin your search for answers within God’s Word where God has recorded not only the answers but the correct questions as well.
 
Have a great week!
Pastor Jim