I think:
After I have empowered you to stand, given you food to nourish your body, encouraged you in your pursuits of excellence or justice, and been there for you and maybe your children, what next?
You live to 50, 60,100? But then you die.
So, you say what I did mattered to you, possibly to your world as well and obviously to YHWH - who created you in his image. But what if it was my trust and relationship with YHWH that propelled me to care for your well-being and the quality of your existence in this world? but if all my goodness was about the 'here' for you, then my trust in YHWH must have been incomplete.
Why?
Because to trust in God is to trust in all he has said through his prophets and especially now through his Son - Jesus the Messiah - in the Bible.
And here is the thinking of his Son:
Matthew 16:26;
The Easy-Read-Version, '' It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are lost. You could never pay enough to buy back your life.''
The New International Version, ''For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?''
The Complete Jewish BibleTranslation, '' What good will it do someone if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or, what can a person give in exchange for his life?''
In the preceding verse, He pointedly told his follower, Peter, that: ''You are not helping me! You don’t care about the same things God does. You care only about things that people think are important.”
And,
24 Then Jesus said to his followers, “If any of you want to be my follower, you must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me. 25 Any of you who try to save the life you have will lose it. But you who give up your life for me will find true life.''
What am I getting at? This:
While it is important to empower you, give nourishment to your body, encourage excellence and be there for you and even your children, Jesus came to show us that the Father's focus now extends far beyond what we as humans think is important. He is now so focused on our eternity being spent in LIFE not spiritual death as that was his reason for sending Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must never make this life here and anything in it our goal for living or giving.
After death, if it was all in (and for) this present world, it would not help you. All our endeavours would have been, as the Preacher (in Ecclesiastes) repeatedly said, meaningless.
So, I will continue to direct your focus, not on what people think is important, but on what the Son of YHWH came to show us IS important. The focus is a life given up for Jesus which gives in return, the true life that he purchased for all by his sacrifice on the cross
This is the greatest I can give. This is the best we can give anyone.
Shalom
''In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. '' Hebrews 1:1-2
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