Job L

 What remains after the fire of testing is the only thing of eternal value we possess. It’s one of those hard truths we learn individually, even though the Word makes it clear this is the case. Some will toil their entire lives only to discover it was all vanity, having only a fistful of ashes and a mountain of regrets to show for the life they lived, while others will reap the reward of having built something that endures.

If what energizes and animates us is something other than the Kingdom of God, if what we pursue are the fleeting things of this life rather than those which hold an eternal weight of glory, once the passing things of earth go the way of dust, all we are left with is the foreboding reality that we’ve squandered the time we were given in pursuit of worthless things.

When we consistently prioritize our relationship with Jesus and build up our most holy faith throughout our lives, when the fire of testing comes, those things will remain while the dross will be burned away. It is in those moments that we discover He is enough, He is sufficient, and everything else was but a vapor, something that is here today and gone tomorrow with no permanence or continuity into eternity.

What is the purpose of your life here on earth? That is the ever-present question that should determine what we commit our time and resources to on a daily basis. If my purpose is an eternity in His presence, if the desire of my heart is to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant,” then all that I do and all that I am will be focused on that singular goal. When my goal is firmly established, I will intuitively know what serves as a distraction when it appears. I will know that whatever the thing is, whether it is a new hobby, a new job, a new friendship, or a new goal, noble as these things might be, they are trying to take away from the time I’ve been given to pursue Him.

Some things can’t be avoided. We all need to eat, so we all have to work. Human connection is part of life, so we all need friends, but through it all, we must still be aware that time is slipping away and the desire to remove ourselves from the hustle and bustle of life and be alone with Him and in His presence must be ever-present.

When I first started courting my wife, whenever we would part, I couldn’t wait until the next time I saw her. There was an expectation and anticipation of a future encounter, to the point that I couldn’t wait for the night to end, the sun to rise, and for me to pick her up and take her to breakfast just so we could talk or hold hands again.

This is the type of mindset we must nurture when it comes to spending time in God’s presence. I wake up every morning excited about the prospect of spending a few hours alone with God before everyone wakes up and the business of life begins anew, from packing lunches for the girls, taking them to school, answering e-mails, paying bills, and everything else that goes along with existing entails.

If the desire of your heart is to spend time with God, you will find the time. If it’s not, then every other breath will provide a fresh excuse to put it off, delay it, or ignore it altogether.

There are also moments in life when we get so busy that it seems as though we’re running on an endless hamster wheel just to keep up. Then, suddenly, something happens, and everything comes to a standstill. At first, we wonder why such a thing could happen to us, why God would allow it since He knows how busy we are, and that we need to have the energy to work those eighteen-hour days, but the more we grow, and the more mature we become, we see those events for what they are, a loving reminder that God misses us, and we should miss Him, and there’s nothing like being bedridden for a couple of days to give us the time to reacquaint ourselves with Him.

When we look at life’s events through the prism of human reason or logic and don’t apply a spiritual filter to them, we often miss out on the lesson God is trying to teach us or the true purpose of what it is we’re going through. I often made the same mistake in my younger years, especially when it came to the constant gout attacks I’d have in my early twenties. If you happen to have gout, then you know. If you don’t have it, you can’t imagine. Just thank the Lord that you don’t, and believe me when I tell you that you are being spared a pain akin to childbirth.

I tried everything from diet to cherry extract to drinking enough water to drown a small village, all to no avail. Every few months, I’d get a flare-up, and I’d be out of circulation for a week or more. I even got a prescription for allopurinol at one point, but it just made it worse, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel.

Then it was my mom, of all people, who said something that made me pause and look at the situation from a different angle: “Maybe God’s trying to tell you something.” That was it. Six words that changed my life for the better. I thought about what she said, looked back on the times I’d gotten sidelined by my gout, and realized it was usually during the moments in life when I was so focused on other things that I failed to make enough time for God.

Although correlation is not causation, and my experience is anecdotal, I can attest that after making that mind shift and prioritizing spending time with God over anything else that might be happening in my life, I haven’t had a gout attack since. God chastens those He loves, and the purpose thereof is always to draw us closer to Him.

Our need for God must extend beyond the moments when we have a problem only He can fix to every day and every hour of our lives. We must understand that without Him, without His presence in our lives and His being established on the thrones of our hearts, we have nothing.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.