A teenage boy lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his
driveway. After a fruitless search, he told his mother the lens was no
where to be found. Undaunted, she went outside and in a few minutes
returned with the eyepiece in her hand.
"How did you manage to
find it, Mom?" The teenager asked.
"We weren't looking for the
same thing," she replied. "You were looking for a small piece of
plastic. I was looking for $150."
It is so true that our passion
and persistence in doing something will be largely determined by its
value in our eyes. For example, evangelism will never be a top priority
as long as you see your next-door neighbor as simply a middle-aged guy
with a pot belly. When you see him as an valuable soul whose eternal
destiny will be determined by his relationship with God, suddenly things
are different.
If you see your involvement at church as simply
cleaning out a baptistry or corralling a herd of 4-year-olds for an
hour, you will quickly lose heart. When you see your involvement as an
essential element in the building up of the kingdom of God, you will not
"grow weary while doing good" (Gal. 6:9).
"Set your mind on
things above, not on things on the earth." (Col. 3:2)
Looking at
earthly things from a heavenly perspective will change the value of
things in our mind. And that, in turn, will change how diligently we
seek to do the things of God.
Alan Smith
Innisfil, ON, Canada
