What Really Matters To You?
Joe Slater
	What things are really important to you? We know what the answer ought to be, but let’s dig deeper than that. Three criteria will demonstrate what really matters to us:
	Time: All of us have equal amounts of this commodity. Every day we spend every second we have. The question is, how do we spend it? Governor Felix wanted to wait until “a convenient time” to bring his life into harmony with God’s will (Acts 24:25). Too often we, like Felix, relegate God to the back burner while we spend our time doing as we please. Countless things compete for our time: job, family, school, innumerable forms of entertainment, community activities – many of these are legitimate, but where does God fit in? We spend time on things that are important to us.
	Money: Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). I never cared about the stock market until, in the mid 1960s, my class at school invested in a company as part of a project. My share probably wasn’t more than two or three dollars, but I went home every afternoon, found the newspaper page for the New York Stock exchange, and observed how “my” company had performed. (In case you’re interested, we lost money!)
	Investing not only sparks interest, it also demonstrates interest. Haggai rebuked God’s people because they were spending money on their own dwellings, but leaving the temple of God in ruins (1:4). They were more interested in creature comforts than in serving God. As with time, we can find endless places and ways to spend money. What is important to you? To find the real answer, look where you spend your money!
	Conversation: We talk about things that interest or concern us. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). It is next to impossible to hold a conversation on a topic that doesn’t interest you, or about which you know very little. We will make the effort to become informed in areas that are important to us.
	Do we talk much about Jesus, the Bible, the church, etc., other than when we’re together at the meeting house? Some can name every player on their favorite sports team, but can’t name the twelve apostles! They know the numbers on the jerseys, but can’t remember where key Bible passages are found. They can hold a lively conversation about the last game, what went right, and what went wrong; but they can’t show a lost soul the Bible passages that teach how to be saved. What is important to you? Whatever you talk about.
	Time, money, and conversation are three criteria by which we can discern what things are truly important to us. Let’s examine ourselves honestly, and then make whatever changes are needed.
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Kindness
I have wept in the night
     For the shortness of sight
	That to somebody's need made me blind.
But I never have yet
     Felt a twinge of regret
	For being a little too kind!
			--via Bulletin Gold
No One Left Behind
	The military, especially the elite groups such as the Navy SEALS and Army Rangers, has a commitment summed up in the motto: "No man left behind."  Their men will risk their lives to bring back even a dead comrade. What does that have to do with being a follower of Jesus?
	Consider the parable of the lost sheep. "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing." (Luke 15:4-5)  It appears that Jesus originated the idea: "No one left behind."  Remember that Jesus said His mission was to "seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
	"No man left behind" causes SEALS and others to be 100% committed to that ideal.  How committed are you to seeking and saving those who are lost?  We all have neighbors and family members who are lost.  We all know brethren who have wandered away from the fold.
	"And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:7).
	Let us be like our Lord and seek the lost sheep!
		--Ed Wittlif (Denver, CO)