Day Sixteen - What Matters Most

Life is all about love. Because God is love - because He is the greatest example of love and because He embodies love - he wants me to spend my life loving others. Love is the foundation of every law and commandment He has given. Though I am called to love everyone in the world, I am to give special attention to the members of God's family. The love that Christians show to each other is proof to the world of how God can work in lives and serves as a great testimony to His power.

Warren gives several reasons why love needs to have top priority in my life:

1. Life without love is really worthless. The only thing I can take to heaven with me is relationships. I can spend my whole life working but the second I die I lose all of my money and everything I own. But the people I meet, spend time with and love (and maybe even lead to the Lord) - I get to spend eternity with them!
2. Love will last forever. Love is eternal. Love does not end when my life ends. Love has eternal implications. Unfortunately Warren decided to quote Mother Teresa here. He quotes her as saying, "It's not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters." Not only is that statement devoid of any real meaning, it's also just plain false. It is a shame that he couldn't use a better quote there.
3. We will be evaluated on our love. Spiritual maturity can be partly measured by the quality of my relationships. When I die God will review how I treated other people and if I truly loved them.

Warren then turns to a discussion of how love is best expressed through my time. I can learn about what I really love by examining how much time I spend doing various activities. Do I spend my time with my wife and children or do I spend it alone? Do I spend my time with friends? My time is an indication of my love.

Bible Passages

Warren quotes the bible seventeen times using eight translations and paraphrases. Generally he quotes the Bible within its proper context.

Question To Consider

Today's question to consider is "Honestly, are my relationships my first priority? How can I ensure that they are?" I became convicted a few months ago that I needed to take a good look at how I spend my time. I was quite surprised to see how selfish I was with my time. And even more surprising was how much time I wasted. I found that I had the incredible talent of spending hours just frittering away my time. I could spend hours sitting at my desk "working" but getting nothing done. I could spend hours in the living room with my children without spending any quality time with them. So I made some changes. I cut out some activities that were dragging me away from the family. I really tried to make it a priority to spend time with my friends. And I think it has worked. I generally am a better steward of my time now, which also makes me a better steward of relationships.

Up Next

Tomorrow's topic is A Place To Belong