Is this worth it to me?

Have you ever wanted to accomplish something so much that it started taking over your life? For instance, maybe you wanted to lose weight and increase your exercise routine so all you thought about was counting calories and making sure that your regular exercise time was never jeopardized. You kept monitoring the scale, sometimes rejoicing, sometimes walking away in frustration, resolved to do an even better job of watching what you were eating and increasing the amount of your exercise. Did you ever get to the point where you just wanted to quit?

We’re a month into Lent, and while we do not make fasting or sacrificial giving a law, many began doing that on Ash Wednesday. Perhaps you made it a goal to spend more time in prayer and reading the Scriptures or make use of our Lenten video devotions and participate in the special midweek worship opportunities. Things may have started out ok, but then life happened and the time you wanted to set aside was allocated for something else. You had good intentions but follow through was more difficult than anticipated.

Does that mean it’s too late to start up again? Obviously not. But perhaps the question that always comes up is this: Is this worth it to me? There are a lot of things I know I should do because they would be good for me, but I don’t do all of them because they aren’t worth the sacrifice of other things I’d have to make in order to accomplish them.

So what is the value of extra time in the Word and prayer, as well as extra worship and devotional opportunities? Quite frankly, it keeps us focused on our Lord and His great love for us. And as we continue to focus on Him, it becomes more and more natural to want to involve Him in every area of our life. And when He is involved, He brings His perfect peace which makes it possible for us to enjoy life more and more fully even in the midst of challenges, knowing that He who overcame death and the grave is with us and will get us right where He wants us to be – with Him now and forever in heaven. We’ll hear these words of St. Paul read during this weekend’s worship service: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14) Those are great words for us to make our own.