EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST DETAILS -- Devotional for July 20, from "Good Seeds"

God forbid that I should boast in anyone except my Lord Jesus Christ, or in anything but His cross, through which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

Sometimes when a person makes a significant faith decision for Christ he is encouraged to select a “Life Verse,” a passage of Scripture upon which to anchor his life. When I prepare someone for baptism I help him find such a verse, and then quote it while standing with him in the baptismal font. The pastor who counseled me when I went forward to dedicate my life for Christian service urged me to pick a life verse for myself (see July 19). I didn’t want to use the typically popular verses most of my friends were choosing, so I selected a rather obscure one: Romans 15:1. Years later I chose a new life verse that I felt more clearly expressed my philosophy of life as a Christian: Galatians 6:14. This verse fairly reeks with the passion and conviction of one totally sold out to God, one who craves glory – not his own, but God’s – in everything he says and does. Paul expresses this most succinctly in I Corinthians 1:31, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (see also Jeremiah 9:23-24, and II Cor. 10:7-18). While serving at Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp recently I noticed this bumper sticker on a fellow music teacher’s car: “The only important thing in life is music – everything else is just details!” What a great example of single-minded devotion and passion! I, too, would claim that same conviction – with just this variation: exchange one five-letter word for another – change MUSIC to JESUS! What a beautiful paraphrase we then would have for Galatians 6:14: “The only important thing in life is JESUS – everything else is just details!” Oh that this were genuinely true in my life, that Jesus would not only be eternally in my heart, but constantly and continually on my mind, as the “Altogether Lovely One,” as the only subject worthy of my consideration and conversation, regardless of my situation or the company I keep at any given point in my life! In Matthew 6:33 we read: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (is not the embodiment and personification of that righteousness nothing less than the Lord Jesus Christ?), "and all these things shall be added unto you” (and are not “all these things” just details, by comparison?). My new life verse goes on to say that as far as the glitter and gold and glamor of this world are concerned, well, I am dead to these things, and they are dead to me. “Keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins,” wrote the psalmist, “may they not have any grip on me” (Psalm 19:13). Hmmm, my new life verse might just be harder to live by than any other one I know. Since I will not achieve it any time soon, maybe it’s a good one to keep constantly before me.