My dear friends, this is now the second time I’ve written to you, both letters reminders to hold your minds in a state of undistracted attention. Keep in mind what the holy prophets said, and the command of our Master and Savior that was passed on by your apostles. Â Â Â Â 2 Peter 3:1-2 (The Message)
… to hold your minds in a state of undistracted attention … Other translations say to “… keep in wholesome thinking …â€. And so that begs the question: Am I focused on what God would determine is wholesome or right thinking? With all this hoopla about elections, nuclear weapons, natural disasters, life-threatening illnesses and any other number of things on a list, it can be difficult to keep my mind from worry, frustration, and what effects me in the here and now.
God put me on this earth for a reason. Before I was born, He knew my name and the potential I had in His Kingdom. I spent the first 40+ years of my life almost exclusively focused on me and what I could do to build the Jody Kingdom. Within a matter of months, all that I had built, marriage, career position, big house, two cars, buying without budget – was gone. That will get your attention! I learned from that experience.
[Jesus said,] “Don’t store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them. But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is. “   Matthew 6:19-21 (NCV)
There is a good test of anything that I value: Will it decay or rust away? Presidents, kings, earthly nations and lands, money, careers, homes and cars will all pass away. It is God and His Kingdom that will still exist.
Am I building God’s Kingdom by what I speak, what I share and how I reach out? Do I look at others with God’s eyes and see with compassion the lost children? The struggling children? Do my eyes look beyond my own home? My own church? My own town? My own country?
God has been laying on my heart little things I can do to be Him to others. They do not take big sums of money or time. They are just taking the opportunities He opens and be kind, be joyful, be patient, be gentle, be everything that He has been to me!
There’s a show on ABC called “Secret Millionaireâ€. A millionaire goes out into a city (undercover) to find, through volunteering, charitable groups that are making a difference. I love the show! Not for what the millionaire does, although that is a blessing, but the millionaire is giving from their “extraâ€. It’s the groups that they find that blow me away! I saw this one episode a few weeks ago where a kid about 12 years old started making peanut butter sandwiches and giving them away to homeless people in the local park. He has no government grant and the idea didn’t come from his mother but instead he saw a need and got his mother and now some others involved in wrapping up sandwiches, putting them in a canvas bag and they go out and hand them out. Two sisters saw so many in their neighborhood struggling to feed their families and so they started a soup kitchen. The sisters are in their 80’s! They feed about 200 meals 3 times a week! And when they are blessed by money from a millionaire, they cry – not because of what it does for them but for how it means they can do more for others!
I wan my mind on “Kingdom stuffâ€. Help me, Jesus, to keep my focus on Your words and example.
In the Blink of an Eye written and sung by MercyMe (2004)
