The Battle for the Heart

What is our most important stewardship? While many of us tend to focus on economic or financial aspects of our "stewardship," most of us should be spiritually sensitive enough to recognize that there are other priorities that should supersede economic or material things: family, etc. But what priority should be the paramount consideration among the competing demands on our time and resources? What aspect of our lives will prove to be the primary determinant of our eternal destiny? Many demands continually consume our attention: family, careers, and the economic pragmatics that determine our personal prerogatives, etc. The "urgent" will tend to preempt the important. But our most critical stewardship is our heart. That is what God is most concerned with, and it is this stewardship which will determine our response to all of the other issues we face-moment-by-moment, day-by-day, throughout the year, and, in fact, which will determine our eternal destiny. While our salvation is based entirely on what the Lord has done, our ultimate rewards will derive from our responses to the opportunities He provides to us. Our decisions will derive from our perspectives, and these, in turn, derive from what is commonly called our "world view": our global perspective of the world we find ourselves in - our origin, our purpose, and our assumed destiny. There are, however, only two basic world views:
1. We are simply the result of a series of cosmic accidents; or

2. We are the result of a purposeful design with a destiny that will be determined by our responses, and their consistency with, the aims of the Designer.
There are no other alternatives. All of our attitudes and perspectives derive, consciously or presumptuously, from our world view. If we believe that we are, as our government schools continue to inculcate our children, simply the result of randomness, it shouldn't surprise us that many lack a sense of destiny or moral responsibility. If, however, we recognize a design in the universe - and in ourselves - we not only acknowledge a responsibility, but also yearn to know as much as possible about the Designer and His intentions. We live in a dark world. Paul warned his protégé, Timothy, that times would become increasingly hazardous: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (2 Timothy 3:1-5)."
However there is hope for the future. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." Let's not lose sight of our fundamental anchors in this sea of distress:
1. God still reigns;

2. The Church is still precious in His sight;

3. Its mission is still clear;

4. Our focus is still Heaven; we are but pilgrims, not "earth-dwellers"; and

5. Victory is still certain.