Please do not stop reading this half way through! I wrote part of it yesterday, which I think is very disjointed and awkward, but the Lord was really teaching me a lot as I wrote the second half this morning. If you want to fast-forward through it to the second half, that would be better than reading the first half and stopping, though I still think in order to establish an answer to the original question I set out to answer, all of this writing is necessary, even if poorly organized.
In a conversation with a friend yesterday I was asked a question that has been gnawing at me for the past eighteen hours or so. I was actually asked two questions that have been rather thought-provoking, two questions that may be more intertwined than I even would imagine, but I will attempt to answer one of them for myself, for my friend and for anyone else who has interested. The other, “does Jesus really want us to follow and imitate Him?” will wait for another day. Today God has taught me abundantly about the second question which is, “Why do you [talking to me] make such a big deal of following Peter and Paul etc. in their choice of poverty and loss of all for the sake of the Gospel, when there are men like David and Solomon in the Old Testament who are filthy rich, powerful on Earth, and still men after God’s own hearts?” This question is a good one, and my response given at the time of asking was not worthy of it. Hopefully the following will express adequately the truth of scripture that God has placed upon my heart.
Because both my friend and I tend to be rather logical thinkers I will write this response in as clear an essay format as possible with a clear and concise thesis. This thesis is that God’s purpose for humanity is to Love the Lord with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their might and with their lives to reveal His glory – a purpose that alone can bring joy and life to a human soul, but a purpose that is fundamentally incompatible with a striving for riches and Earthly security. I will begin to support and argue this thesis by looking at the new testament, beginning with the life and teachings of Jesus, and then transitioning into the writings of the apostles. This, I believe, is a rather easy case to make, and the evidence supporting the above thesis is plentiful. However, with the second part of this essay, I will attempt to show that Jesus simply ushers in the fulfillment of God’s plan for the Kingdom of God through his teachings and life, and as reflected in the lives of his apostles and early followers, a fulfillment that is completely compatible with what God does in the lives of David and Solomon, not one that stands in contrast to it. I have chosen to leave this paragraph here even though what you will read further on does not follow my promise to write a clear and concise thesis. Let it stand as a lesson to me and anyone who reads this that planning before writing really is helpful.
From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry with what might be called his inaugural address in Luke 4 Jesus reveals his interest in the lowly of society, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the bind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he leaves the synagogue where he declared this and calls his disciples, and calls them simply, but powerfully. James, John and Simon dropped their nets to catch men, Levi left his tax booth to follow him. Jesus entered their lives and they were no longer fishermen and tax-collectors, they were disciples. Their purpose in life had changed, everything changed, because they had heard Christ’s holistic call on their lives. Simon even had his name changed within the first five seconds of meeting Jesus. No one who comes to Jesus leaves looking the same, or even remotely similar except those whom he curses, those who are his enemies, those who eventually kill him. The blind come, gain their sight and follow him (Matthew 20), the demon possessed are freed and sent to tell all (Mark 5), the sinful are convicted of and healed of their sin and go away sharing from their bounty of joy (John 4). All of these lowly of society leave changed and transformed from the presence of Jesus, but not all people leave Jesus changed. The Pharisees come to him entrenched in their earthly, churchy ways and leave the same or embittered, the rich man came to him and left sad because he was wealthy and unwilling to sell his possessions (Matthew 19:16-) In this story of the rich young man Jesus tells his disciples, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Then, when Peter asks Jesus about what will happen to the disciples, because they have left everything, Jesus responds, “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and man you are last will be first.” Matthew 19:29-30. Jesus also says, “If any wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9:35 Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God
So that last paragraph was a nice spewing of Jesus’ teaching, but there are some observations and clarifications that must be made in light of them. First of all, it must be noted that these teachings of Jesus are not popular in the American church. Why? Because Americans are stinking rich and like to keep their money. Why? Because the church does not have the same interest in the poor and lowly that Jesus did. Why? Because Americans have become so comfortable with Jesus that he has been reduced to a pocket-sized friend to carry around and pull out when convenient. Why? Because we as a country are obsessed with and enslaved to this world. The Bible talks about two kingdoms, the Earthly kingdom that is Satan’s and the Heavenly Kingdom
I would also like to turn to James and some of the other epistle-writers quickly for a little more support in this war against our Earthly loves. Actually, as I start writing here I think I will break with my initial structure and begin weaving in some of David and Solomon with the epistles. James 1:9-11 reads, “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.” This text is not so much a condemnation of the rich as it is a warning against busyness. James is a master of imagery and in these verses he draws the picture of a flower. This flower is so busy, and always moving around doing this or seeing that. Unfortunately though, due to all of his moving and activity he was never able to establish a good system of roots and so when the sun comes out he withers and dies. In these verses the poor are blessed because they have the ability and time to establish good roots, they know how to be still and know that He is God. The rich on the other hand, as we know, are running from work to practice to more practice, grabbing dinner real quick before off to the next group, and then ending the day in front of the TV because they’ve earned it. In the midst of all this running, and all these distractions God is absent, he is never sought, and all too easily forgotten. It is this hectic life of pointless doing that is the problem here. David knew this as well, in Psalms 10:4-6 he writes, “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.” This is the story of our society. In all our thoughts there is no room for God. In our pride we do not seek him. If we get our insurance, our retirement, and build up our savings nothing can shake us. This is where David separates Himself from the average American, he knows how to wait on God, and he seeks God in all he does. In the very next Psalm, number 11, he says, “In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”” David just cannot understand why people would tell him to run, why they would instruct him to find shelter and security someplace other than the Lord. After all, he takes shelter in the Lord, the Lord is his Shepherd and he shall not want. (Psalm 23) If we as Christians really believe we have that kind of shepherd than we have to start living like it. 1 Peter 1:13 says, “Therefore prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Did you hear that last part? Our hope is to be fully on Jesus and his grace. How many of us have divided hopes. We hope somewhat in Jesus, but that mainly is for when we die and need to get to heaven. Our hope and allegiance is split though. We have hope and security in our wealth, in our homes, in our jobs, in our families, the very things Jesus instructed his disciples to leave behind. Jesus was no fool, he knew our hearts, he knew our weaknesses and the things that tempt us. He knew we needed him and him alone, and that with distractions we would have a hard time believing that, and so he calls the poor, and he calls the rich out of their wealth. He wants to reach people when they have nothing else to cling to. Only then will they know that he truly is enough to satisfy. Only then will they cry out with David, “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my might rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.” The Lord is the only thing that satisfies. It is for him we were created, and it was in trying to get more than him that we fell, and thus James writes, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes and enemy of God.” James 4:4 When we put our trust in things that are finite than we end up with grave problems. Not only do riches tempt us, and try to become our God, but if they succeed in doing so, than they prevent us from caring out God’s purpose of loving service to the world. James summarizes both of these woes as he writes, “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver have corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. . . You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.” James 5:1-3, 5 Riches and wealth take our allegiance and become so easily our places of security. As Brie and I went into the wilderness last week with no home to return to, no knowledge of what was going to come we found ourselves even putting our hope and security in our car. It was the only earthly possession we had left, and obviously quite useless, but our hearts have learned so well to trust things, rather than our sovereign, loving God. This is a tragedy, and a truth that ways heavily on my heart, one that I have strove to defeat with obedience, and one that is slowly being reversed in my life as the Lord blesses me more and more with joy in him alone. As I draw near to God with all my heart, and resist the devil and the forces of this world with equal force, I find the Lord drawing near to me in an intimacy I have never known James 4:7-8. The psalms have come alive to me, and I understand the heart of David, a heart that was after God’s own heart. I want at this point to keep dropping scripture from all over the new testament or call attention to Revelation, particularly the letters to Laodicea and Sardis
Now the original problem of the original question still remains somewhat unanswered. If riches are such a problem, and we are supposed to be like Peter and Paul who left everything for the gospel, than why are David and Solomon still righteous and yet filthy rich? The simple answer to this question would be that Jesus changes things and ushers in a new fulfillment of the law, so just imitate Paul as he imitates Jesus and don’t ask questions. However, this would be unfair to the asker, and I think to David and Solomon. That being said, before I look at David and Solomon I will say that Jesus makes it very clear that to follow him will be costly. He does not promise his disciples prosperity, but rather that they will suffer and be hated. Thus, if we are looking for a way to remain prosperous and still say we are devoted to God we should just stop right here, and go back and seek Jesus some more. However, I think there is great fruit to be had by asking the question of what is it that David and Solomon had that kept them faithful even in the midst of their riches, what is it that kept them in God’s favor. This question can help us see what a heart committed to God truly looks like, and can more fully allow us to attain the primary goal of loving God, rather than simply stopping at a law and work-based teaching of “get rid of your money.” I would not have a problem with Christians making a bunch of money. Making money is not bad unless it is our goal. It is having lots of money that is the problem, wanting money, trusting money. I can think of a couple of people who have seen lots of money come through their hands as Christians and have been faithful in watching come right out the other side in work for the kingdom. However, I do believe that this takes a very strong and very faithful disciple committed whole-heartedly to the work of the kingdom, and it takes a freedom from the confines of this world that only the healing of the Holy Spirit can bring.
OK, with that said, lets look at the life and writings of David for a moment. David begins his life as a simple shepherd boy. He is the lowest of his brothers and in the eyes of the world surely the least important. That is why it is a surprise when Samuel comes on an anointing mission from God, and it is David that receives the anointing 1 Samuel 16. Then, when David comes to bring food to his brothers at the battlefield he is once again underestimated. However, he boldly volunteers to fight the fearsome Goliath. He does not do it to show off, or to be made much of, but because he is embarrassed that these representatives of God are representing Him so poorly. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God,” he asks 1 Samuel 17:26. He is concerned not for his own rep, but for Gods. God is alive and he is going to act like it. His trust is in the Lord. When Saul tries to talk him out of it he replies, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:37 His security has been and will continue to be in the Lord. Once again Saul tempts him with other security, dressing him in his finest armor. It just doesn’t make sense that David would dare go against Goliath with just the Lord to protect Him. However, when Goliath calls him out David responds, “you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel Jerusalem
It is clear that for the most part David is never held captive by a desire for anything but his Lord. This is why he is a man after God’s own heart. This is why God chose him as the leader of his people. God chose to make much of David, to provide much for David, because through David’s reign God was once again remembered as the Rock and Refuge of his people. However, we as Christians must imitate David’s heart without assuming that God will give us kingdoms and riches and palaces. God’s promise to David was that he would be the one who would, “build a house for my [God’s] Name, and I [God] will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” This was David’s promise, and in Jesus Christ this promise was fulfilled. From Jesus on there are no more kings. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and he will reign, as God promised David, forever. Remember that Jesus was an Earthly descendant of David. In fact, Matthew traces his ancestry back to the adulterous wife of David, Bathsheba. God is faithful to his promises, but now that we are servants of the new King and Lord Jesus, he offers us this promise, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also, If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” John 15:18-21 Just as David’s only purpose was to be the vehicle for God to make a house for His name, so our purpose is to, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This too comes with a great promise though, and praise God for it, Jesus says, “And surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 The reality is that we find ourselves at a different point in God’s redemptive plan of the world than David did. The New Testament writers continuously convey a great sense of urgency. Whether there are months, years, or thousands of years left in the history of Earth we are in the end times. Jesus is ushering in the new Kingdom and without worry about food, clothing etc. we are to seek that Kingdom and God’s righteousness. David too sought God’s Kingdom and His righteousness without worrying about food. In that way we are to have the same heart that David had, the same longings David had, that is why the Psalms still speak wonderful truth to hearts hungry for God. However, Jesus promises that as we seek the Kingdom now it will look awfully different than it did when David sought it.
We still have yet to deal with Solomon, and so I would like to turn to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, two books at least partially written by Solomon. We have shown how our hearts should be the same of that as David, even if our lives do not look as glamorous due to the point in history we find ourselves. However, there is another truth that was just as true then as it is today, and it is a truth that Solomon understood well: riches and Earthly things will never satisfy. Only God brings true satisfaction. Proverbs 15:16-17 reads, “Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil. Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.” If only our American society would have learned from Solomon’s great wisdom. What a great testimony to the fact that wealth does not bring happiness our country is. As we seek and strive in our dog eat dog, must be better than the Jones’ world, depression, stress, health problems, broken families and general lack of satisfaction with life continue to grow. I have experienced this in my own life. When I was born my parents lived in a trailer house, than when I was five we moved into a slightly bigger, but yet small home, then in seventh grade we moved into a large home with a bedroom for every person in the family, got satellite TV and internet in the home for the first time. As we strove to have more my family slowly drifted apart. My brothers and I grew less and less close, and my respect and affection for my parents shrunk drastically. I did not recognize it at the time, but the simple life we had in our smaller house, and with fewer distracting activities was filled with so much more joy than anything I experienced as we ran around like crazy people, or wasted our lives in front of the TV during my high school years. When reading the Proverbs, Solomon clearly understands that Earthly gain will not satisfy. However, he does continuously advocate hard work, and many people might challenge me with a verse such as Proverbs 12:11 which reads, “He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.” I don’t know how many times I have been told that my walk of discipleship is nothing but a silly fantasy and that I need to settle down, work, and provide food etc. for my family. This seems to be the exact advise and wisdom of Solomon here. However, I would respond by reminding about the great number of parables that Jesus tells about farming, and working. In Luke 10:2 Jesus says to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Just as Solomon says, we are to be workers in the land, Jesus wants that too. However, he turns the idea of work on its head. Jesus’ commands are certainly not some hippy call to simple living. His call is to get to work bringing the kingdom, a job that is so full-time that one cannot be wasting their energies worrying even about their next meal (Matthew 6), much less whether or not they can purchase the latest gadgets and gizmos. Remember what happens when Jesus calls James, John and Simon in Luke 5. They were hard-working men who spent their time catching fish. Jesus comes along and lets them know that they will continue to be hard-working men, fishermen even, but that they will be catching their fellow men rather than fish. If discipleship is a fantasy than it is Jesus’ fantasy, and one worthy of chasing. Working Jesus’ land is not work that negates Solomon’s promise of abundant food coming to a worker. Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life and instructs all, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” John 6:27 This statement carries both a command and a promise. The command, stop working just to survive on Earth, and the promise, you will be fed from the bounty of my glory for eternity.
Now lets wrap up by returning to Solomon and Ecclesiastes where Solomon has discovered that, “Everything is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 1:2 Solomon goes on to write in chapter 2 verses 10-11, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” No matter how hard he worked, no matter what he gained, everything ended up being meaningless. Solomon knew that nothing had gained would mean anything after he died. At that point he would be reduced to the same level as any other dead man. Again he writes, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealthy is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, [remember what I said about my family, a family many would not consider wealthy. However, when you consider that much of the world lives, and at times dies on, less than $2 a day, my family is surely guilty of hoarding money, and it has been to our own harm] or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him. Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.” Proverbs 5:10-15 Now we could continue through Ecclesiastes at a similar pace, and gain no more ground, but at this point is important to make a clarifying statement before wrapping up this novel. It has been a common “Christian” notion that if Solomon found it meaningless when he denied himself nothing his eyes desired than the correct way to find meaning is simply to deny yourself everything you desire. This logic however, will miss joy and satisfaction by as great a girth as the untamed desires of a playboy. The restless, purposeless vagabond will die as unhappily and with as little real satisfaction as Hugh Hefner. His eternal life will be just as miserable as well. God does not want us to be joyless, to not have what our hearts desire. It is this fact that David has understood better than most men who have ever lived. God does not want a forlorn, self-denying kingdom, he wants a kingdom full of individuals getting everything they want in Him and Him alone. God wants a heart change. Ever since Adam and Eve had the brilliant idea that God was holding out on them, desired the forbidden fruit instead of God and the bounty he had already provided for them we have been killing ourselves with misplaced desire. David writes in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” What this basically is saying is that if you delight in the Lord, your heart will want to delight in Him more, that will become your desire, and God will fulfill that desire by revealing Himself to you more and more. David was the man who panted for the Lord like a deer pants for water Psalm 42. He was one who in Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 hungered and thirsted for righteousness, and because he was this kind of man he was also a man who the Lord dealt with differently, more intimately than he did other men 2 Samuel 7:19. This is the same promise James offers us today, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” All men and women of God from the beginning of time until now have had the desires of their heart restored to a hungering for God. This is what has always separated the righteous from the unrighteous. When Jesus begins teaching on himself as the Bread of Heaven, the only satisfaction for humankind the crowd listening dwindles from hundreds and thousands to his few faithful disciples. The rest were looking for a free meal, that was their desire, the disciples actually wanted Jesus regardless of the cost. The question we must ask ourselves than is where are our hearts, what do we desire, what are we working for. If there is anything that occupies, even just the smallest part of our affections other than Christ we must remove it. I would challenge us all to reflect upon our own thoughts. What do they betray about our hearts? Is God ever-present in our thoughts. If our life is directed for his Kingdom He should be. The more likely reality is that we are people like those David speaks of in Psalm 10 who have no room for God in their thoughts. If this is the case, we cannot be alright with it. Those who have no room for God in their thoughts are called wicked, and if you want to know what happens to the wicked, what David and Solomon think about the wicked than read Psalms and Proverbs. If you want to see what Jesus thinks about the wicked read Matthew. The way of the wicked might be popular but it ends in destruction. This is not meant to be scare tactics. The simple reality is that if we want joy on Earth now and in the age to come, it will only be found in God. If we are alright with misery here and misery later than we can go ahead and cling to our Earthly treasures as if they were not in Solomon’s words, “meaningless.”
Let me end now with the words of Solomon and Peter, two men whose life paths looked much different, but whose hearts were both hungry for their God. Solomon says at the end of Ecclesiastes, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the WHOLE duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Now I want to use Peter to bring some balance to Solomon and to this whole exploration. It is quite easy at this point to start working, working, working for the Kingdom. One might think if they can forgive like Jesus, love like Jesus, and look like Jesus than everything will be alright. This is a noble desire, and a mistake that I have made, one that I think makes God smile. However, it would be like a little child watching his father chop down a tree with a few powerful swings of an axe, and then thinking that he too can match the feat. The child would surely realize before he even had a chance to swing the axe, that there was a different between he and his father. We must seek to do God’s work, to bring Kingdom-bringers, but as we imitate Jesus in our lives, we must just as passionately seek the power of his spirit to change our character. We, like the child, have some growing up to do before we will swing the axe with the ease of our father. This does not mean that we should not repeatedly make our best effort at swinging it, but it does mean as Peter writes, that we must, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you [we] may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2-3 We surely have new work to do that looks like swinging an axe. We are to be fishers of men, and we are to be workers in the field of humanity. However, there is behind the scenes work that must be done that is of equal importance. Just as the son will surely work as hard as he can to grow big and strong like his father, so we too must, “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.” We must make every effort to improve our character because, “if you [we] possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” 2 Peter 1:5-9 I love the last sentence of this quote, because I think it hits the heart of this matter I am trying to address. Let us return to our boy working to our boy trying as hard as he can to get big and strong. All of his attention is on that tree, and that day that he will be able to cut down that tree. If he is a modern boy he would spend hours in the gym, he would eat all kinds of protein, and drink protein shakes. His effort would be great, and bit by bit he would grow and get better and better at chopping that tree until some day he would finally chop it down. Once accomplished he would surely have some small amount of joy, but after accomplishing his goal he would be audience to the deterioration of all he had worked so hard to build up. Bit by bit, no matter how great an effort he continues to exert, the former boy will become an old man and will lose that which he strove so hard for and wasted so many hours and years working to gain. This boy was near-sighted. All he could see was the goal of that tree, he didn’t realize that what he was building up would someday deteriorate, that he was working for perishable, temporary gain. This is the message of the entire Bible when it comes to riches, and earthly goods, whether it comes through David and Solomon or Paul and Peter: Don’t waste your time making effort for things that you will some day lose, but rather make your effort drawing near to God, building up your character and seeking the Kingdom, for you, “ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 2 Peter 3:11-12
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