From: "Stu" <[log in to unmask]>
The Missing Pieces
Our three-year-old grandson was turning out to be quite an engineer.
He loved to figure out how things work, and loved to build things
that do. When he was at Grandma and Granddad's house, he would play
with our Lincoln Logs. One day, he had built a couple of cabins in
the middle of our living room, and we noticed he'd stopped, and he
was just lying on his tummy with his head cradled in his hands,
studying the pictures on the Lincoln Logs container. When his mom
asked him what he was doing just staring at that container, he said,
"There are some pieces missing here." And he began to point out
exactly what pieces were pictured on the can, but missing in front of him.
Let's talk about "The Missing Pieces."
Every once in a while, we hit one of those seasons in our life when
we stop building long enough to realize that "there are some pieces
missing here." A lot of our emotional and spiritual searching in life
is for whatever missing pieces are keeping us from feeling complete.
We seem to be missing the meaning in it all; the purpose of why we're
here. We wonder why there's never been enough love to fill the hole
in our heart ... never any real, lasting peace inside.
It's in those moments when we back off from just messing with the
pieces for a moment, and we stand back to look at the big picture.
That's when we're most likely to discover what really matters, and
what really doesn't.
It happened not long ago to novelist Stephen King, when he almost
died on a lonely rural highway. Here's what he wrote: "I found that
you can't take it with you. I found out what that means. I found
that, while I was lying in a ditch on a country road, covered with
mud and blood. I had a Master Card in my pocket. When you're lying in
a ditch with broken glass in your hair, no one takes Master Card. You
come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we go
out just as broke." And then Stephen King continued, "Warren Buffett,
going out broke. Bill Gates, going out broke. Tom Hanks, going out
broke. Steve King, broke, not a crying dime. All the money you earn,
all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade, all of that,
is mostly smoke and mirrors."
At the moment he wrote those words, Steven King was seeing very
clearly, and seeing that a lot of what our life is about doesn't
really matter. Jesus told us what does matter in one of His ultimate
values- clarifying statements. It's in Mark 8:36, and it's in our
word for today from the Word of God. He said: "What good is it for a
man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Jesus says that
what matters is what happens to your soul. Those feelings that
"something's missing" inside, are actually echoes of the emptiness in
your soul. And if we don't stop, as the Bible says, to "prepare to
meet your God", (Amos 4:12), we'll lose our soul forever. The pursuit
of this world--its relationships, its accomplishments, its
stuff--can cost you your eternal soul.
You can be so busy with earth, that you miss heaven forever. The most
important stop you'll ever make in your life is at the cross of Jesus
Christ. That's where He died, to literally save your soul from the
punishment for your sins. Ultimately, your God is the missing piece
in your life. And the only way to Him is through His Son, the One He
sent to die for you. Maybe you've been too busy for Jesus. Then
you're fatally busy. God has tapped you on the shoulder today to say,
"Stop and take care of your soul, man, while there's time." You can
finally make things right with God. You can have every wrong thing
you've ever done forgiven, if you'll reach for Jesus, and tell Him
today that you're putting all your trust in Him, because today is all
you're sure you've got.
Stu
Stuart Swartz
616 E. Boothe
Cleveland, Tx. 77327
281-659-0629
[log in to unmask]
WHAT YOU ARE IS GOD'S GIFT TO YOU AND WHAT YOU BECOME IS YOUR GIFT TO GOD
|
