VAIN PURSUITS

"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come."

1 Tim 4:8 (NLT)

All the attention the 2012 Olympics have gotten from the media and everyone else has stirred up a question in me.  What if people were as committed to God as they are to physical training?  How better would this world be? 

Hearing and reading some of the personal testimonies from the athletes that are participating in the Olympics has honestly saddened my spirit.  Why?  Just look at the dedication and effort they put into becoming what they have become.  They’ve sacrificed their whole being!  A lot of them that’s all they’ve known since a very young age. 

All that hard work is done to receive a medal that will not last forever.  It reminds me of the passage found in, 1 Corinthians 9:25 where it also mentions that the work we do for God will last for eternity.  It saddens me to see that people will not even make an effort to go to church and set a godly example for their children, but they will spend all their time and effort to send their children to all the right schools and get trained by all the right coaches.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy watching these athletes and what they’ve accomplished.  I respect their hard work and dedication, but the reason I get a little bend out of shape is because I know our life is but a mist, James 4:14 here on earth and no one is promised tomorrow.    

I see a lot of friends and family members get passionate about other pursuits other then God such as their careers, family or hobbies. Though some of these things are not evil or bad in themselves, but when we place anything before God we make that thing our god and that is called idolatry, Exodus 20:3-6. 

It’s funny that when a person is passionate about his career or skill he is called dedicated, but when a person is passionate about God he is called religious.      

When Jesus came to earth, he knew exactly why he came it was to do the will of the Father.  He had a plan and it was to redeem all of man kind by dying on the cross.  A great Pastor once said that the evidence of the desire is in the pursuit.  If we truly love God then why is he always second best?  Isn’t it time to get passionate about God, Matthew 6:33?