What do you care most about?

When you first wake up in the morning, what do you think about? What is it that makes a good day good, or a bad day bad? As you think about your future, what’s the thing you couldn’t do without? What’s the thing you couldn’t do without this week, or even today?

All that to say, again, what do you care most about? Take a minute to think about it.

Maybe it’s marks, people’s opinions of you, how you dress, sports, or food. It could be your friends, your crush, your weight, your hair, how you look, how you act, or your family. It could be anything. So, what is it?

YOU’RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING

We’re all looking for something. Whether it’s happiness, comfort, fulfillment, love, or any number of things. Our hearts have this gaping hole, that we constantly try to fill, whether we are aware of it or not.

Have you ever thought something along the lines of, “when I get this thing, then I’ll be happy”? That thing could be a boyfriend or girlfriend, a job, a grade. Whatever it is, you’re looking to that thing to fill a longing inside of you.

Not only that, but that thing is probably what you care most about. Although not in every case, when we care about something it’s often because we want it to fulfill us in some way.

So, what do you care most about, and what are you looking for in it?

YOU CAN’T FIND THAT SOMETHING ON YOUR OWN

Unfortunately, there is a large flaw in our plan. The things we look to, what we care about most, won’t ever give us what we’re looking for. They won’t ever make you feel happy, loved, or comforted.

At first, they often do. You get that little rush of happiness when your crush texts you. There’s a spring in your step when you ace that math test, or make that winning shot. But the feelings don’t last, do they? You aways need just a little bit more. You need one more text, to do well on the next test, to win the next game.

The things of this world just cannot satisfy us. But there is someone who can.

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

John 4:13-14 (NLT)

In this verse, Jesus tell the woman at the well that the water he gives her will satisfy her forever. Of course, Jesus wasn’t trying to sell her some magical water that would eternally quench her thirst. Rather, he was talking about her spiritual thirst–the gaping hole inside of her that she was trying to fill. Jesus told her something incredible: he can fill that hole.

Likewise, only Jesus that can fill our heart’s longing. By dwelling on and seeking after Jesus, instead of worldly things, we are perfectly satisfied, truly happy, loved unconditionally, and have an eternal purpose.

When look to other things to fill us, we are left thirsty again and again. But, when we instead look to Jesus we can be eternally satisfied.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS MOST

What do you care about most? Whatever that thing is, you are looking to it for something. Happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, or whatever it is. But there is something that matters more than what you care about most.

You are a child of God. A child of the king.

The happiness, the comfort, the fulfillment, the love, the acceptance, the joy, the stability, the purpose you’re looking for is found in Christ. Everything else in this world, can be counted as loss. You don’t need people, sports, money, food, to fill the longing inside you. It has already been perfectly filled, in Christ.

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ

Philippians 3:8 (NLT)

This should be, as John Piper says, the “blazing centre” of your life. It’s what is most important. When Christ matters more than anything in your life, everything else will flow out of it, like the bubbling stream that wells up into eternal life.

So, what matters most? That you are God’s child.

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