Losing From Winning

“Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.” (Isa 17:10-11 AV)

I have seen those who love not God prosper in this life.  Materially speaking.  These two verses state that material blessing will be hindered for those who would reject God.  This is not a contradiction.  The above verse is more a principle than a hard and fast rule.  What is meant by that is at the end of it all, those who love not the LORD will suffer loss for it.  Maybe not crops or nice things.  But there is more to lose than a barn full of grain.  Peace of mind and heart can escape the soul of those who love themselves more than they love God.

There are cultures in our nation that value hard work and material gain as the highest of all virtues.  Providing the best of material things seems to be the highest of all callings.  If one works outside the home twice as many hours as another, somehow that seems like a virtuous thing.  Sweat equity is the highest measure of worth.  The problem is, there is more to life than providing material needs.  There are social and spiritual needs that are far more important.  Much to my sorrow, I have seen families suffer because of a virtue that was out of priority.  I have seen children fall away from the LORD because mom and dad didn’t make them their priority.  They may have been well fed and provided for, but the factory or farm became more important that church and family time.  Even into their later years, mom and dad left a large inheritance for their children.  But the spiritual cost was the souls of their grandkids.  Sin became an issue.  Broken families become the norm.  God will not bless what man forsakes.

The life we are building is not measured by the things we possess or the lack of want which we have established.  The measure of a man is not the size of callouses on his hands, but rather, the quality of his family.  Either the hands callous, or our kids do.  One or the other.  The choice is ours.