What Makes a Thing Important?
What gives importance? What makes a thing weighty and worthy of your attention?
I suppose the end result makes something important. You want a paycheck? Work is important. You want productive kids? Family time is important. You want to travel, or finish that big project, or change the world? Well, whatever you give time to is what is important to you.
I suppose the audience makes something important, too. If the audience of your Valentine’s Day dinner was your spouse, you deemed it important and gave special attention to the occasion. If the audience of your next meeting is your company’s CEO, that meeting is more important than a meeting with Bob at the water cooler.
I suppose, too, that purpose makes things important—WHY am I spending time on this? It is more than the audience or the end goal. Purpose is tied into the core of who you are, not just who you will be in the future.
The moment you become a Christian, your values change. What used to be important is no longer important. Your job becomes a means to support that which is important. Your family, even, takes second place to God’s will. YOU, yourself, are denied daily, and you take up your cross, and you place yourself on the block as a living sacrifice. You surrender self, and now live to glorify God.
At least, that’s what the Bible says should happen when you become a Christian. Theology states what SHOULD be important, but our calendar, our bank account, our speech, our minds, our choices tell us what is actually important.
Glorifying God gives us the ultimate end, the greatest audience, and the most meaningful purpose to life. The Christian worldview provides a tidy way to live. Let’s focus on important things today and this week!
Ryan Rench