In the previous devotional we talked about simplicity of lifestyle and how it can keep you focussed on what matters most.

Today, let’s continue with that same theme. 

To be clear, what matters most is God. If we fail to appreciate that, the mixed-up culture around us will also mix-up our priority list.

Kevin Myers writes: “We live in a culture which tends to supersize earthly things and downsize eternal things.”*

Wow, how true! We take things like money, possessions, or popularity and blow them out of proportion in terms of their importance.

At the same time, we downsize the significance of eternal things. How many people will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ and come face-to-face with the stark realization that they have put all their eggs in the wrong basket?

The key is to keep things in their proper proportion. In Romans 12:2 Paul writes: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” In other words, conform to the pattern of Christ not the pattern of the world.

Consider the twenty-four year old who was dying from cancer. When he was younger someone told him about the importance of living a life of love. So when it came time for him to die he could have peace of mind. Someone asked him what it was like to near death when he was so young. He replied: “It’s not so bad. It beats being fifty years old and having no values!”**

That, my friends, is perspective!

“We live in a culture which tends to supersize earthly things and downsize eternal things.”

May it not be so with us.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

---

Notes:

–The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on October 23, 2023.

–*Kevin Myers and John C. Maxwell, Home Run: Learning God’s Game Plan for Life and Leadership (New York: Faith Words, 2014), 198.

–**Ronald Rolheiser, Domestic Monastery (Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2019), 87.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.