Day 1971 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Isaiah 41:29 NIV

Reading through Isaiah last night and this one just jumped off the page. I find it amazing how you can be reading through the Word and come across things that you've never noticed before. I guess it just goes to show that God opens our eyes to different things at different times. He really does know what we need to hear and when we need to hear it.

This passage was talking about all the idols that the people were following back then. Well, guess what, we're still following all kinds of things nowadays that simply don't matter. We've all been convinced that so many different things are important. Our world places so much value and importance on things that mean nothing. And so many people are so worried about fitting in that they just go with it and end up getting lost in the flood themselves.

I'll try to make this as clear as possible: worldly things don't matter. Four words, makes sense to me, hopefully it gets the point across. All of these things that all of these people are spending their lives chasing after don't matter. As I've said before several times, if it can be made by human hands, then it's just not that important. It's just not.

We've gotta stop worshiping stuff. We need to learn that the only things that matter are the ones without a price. Things like love, friendship, quiet time, prayer, time spent with loved ones, laughing until you cry, listening to your favorite song, seeing someone else connect with your story, and the list goes on forever. Those are the things that matter. Those are the things that make life so amazing. And they're the ones that no amount of money can buy.

As this verse teaches us, all this other worldly material stuff is nothing but a distraction. It's nothing but a bunch of man-made junk that comes and goes in an instant. If it's eventually going to rust, rot, get damaged, be stolen, or simply thrown away when we're over it, then it just isn't important. Life will never be about what we have around us, but about what we have inside of us.

Friends, I honestly can't beg you enough to stop chasing after things. No matter what you get, it'll never be enough. You'll always find something else that grabs your attention and you're off running to get it next. Nothing we make or buy can get us into Heaven. Nothing that sits on a shelf can do what Christ has done for us. The sooner we understand that, the sooner we start realizing where true value and joy are found.

We can spend our entire lives bowing down to things. We can spend every last cent we ever earn to buy all the things that we could possibly want. But it will never make us happy. It's just not possible. So please stop putting so much importance on things that are simply things. If you can live without it, then you don't need it. And no matter how valuable this world says it is, it will never come close to being as priceless as a relationship with your Father. If we make that our focus, then we'll quickly realize we've already got everything we could possibly need!