What Really Matters?

Howard Hughes (1905-1976) was one of the (close to the) wealthiest people living during his time. His life reads like a work of fiction. He owned a Hollywood movie studio and produced and directed movies. Once, having taken up residence in a Las Vegas hotel, he was asked to move out. Instead, he bought the hotel, along with several others, turning Las Vegas from an unsophisticated western outpost into a worldwide destination. He started an aviation company, an airline, and a medical company along with other ventures. Then he died.

George Ruth (1895-1948) is probably still today the most famous baseball player to play the game. Known as “Babe” he began his career as a star left-handed pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs (in the era of the “dead ball”!) He twice won 23 games and was on three world championship teams with the Red Sox, but wanted to play every day. He was moved to the outfield and, playing every day, broke the season home run record. His penchant for home runs is well known. He was then traded to the Yankees and led them to seven league pennants, and four world championships. He eventually retired. Then he died.

Audie Murphy (1925-1971) was celebrated as the most decorated combat soldier of WW2, and is possibly the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in US history. He received every military combat award for valor available from the US army, and French and Belgian awards for heroism. After the war, Murphy began an acting career and even played himself in the film “To Hell and Back.” He acted in many westerns and can be seen today in movies on the “Grit” TV network. He wrote songs, made television appearances and became involved in horse racing. Then he died.

Marshall Keeble (1878-1968) was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, the son of two slaves. With only a seventh grade education he started several businesses and began preaching on the side. In 1914 he dedicated himself to preaching. In 1918 N.B. Hardeman, helped him find a meeting place for a start-up church, marking the beginning of a long friendship between the two. Keeble preached and debated gospel positions in most every state in the US. He avoided speaking on the controversial topics surrounding racial problems so that his focus could remain on the salvation of souls. It is said that he was responsible for 40,000 baptisms during his life. Then he died.

Al Franks (1939-2019) made his first Bible talk when he was 9 yrs old at the Boxwood Church of Christ in Merryville, LA. By the time he was 16 he was preaching full time at a church in Deridder, LA. He preached in and helped to start many churches in Mississippi. In 1978 he started a religious publication that is filled with uplifting and educational messages, “The Magnolia Messenger.” He travelled around the state of Mississipppi encouraging congregations and keeping everyone posted on God’s people in other places. He hosted the Magnolia Messenger RV rallies. Then he died.

I can tell you of a man (1925-2022) who was baptized after returning home from WW2 and marrying a Christian woman. It was suggested he should be a preacher, an idea that had never occurred to him. He set out on a totally different life than he had ever imagined. He preached at churches that were definitely not in the “Bible belt,” some with problems and drama that just shouldn’t be in churches, but were. He went on mission trips spreading the gospel and having Bible studies with lost souls in Canada, the US, Europe, Africa, Australia and Jamaica. Then he died.

Then they died. They all died, and billions more, and there will be billions more to follow if God allows the world to stand long enough. This isn’t about the six men listed above. I don’t claim to know everything about the lives of these men. The brief biographical sketches summarize what is well known about them. They are merely representative of all of us. Then what do they represent?

Is there anything listed in the brief record of the life of Howard Hughes that matters to him now? Having left this world and gone to his eternal “reward,” does it matter that he built the largest airplane on record at the time? Does he revel in setting the speed record for flying an airplane around the earth? Do you think while waiting the pronouncement of his eternal judgement that he sits with a smirk on his face, proud of the fact that when asked to vacate a hotel he bought it instead?

Does it matter now to the “Sultan of Swat” that he held the home run record for a long number of years? Is he anxious to get face to face with God so that he can tell God all about his exploits on the baseball field? Does it matter to God how he excelled in athletic prowess? Is the “Bambino’s” head swelled with his celebrity status as he awaits his eternal sentence?

Will Audie Murphy’s military record secure him a place in heaven? Do you think he is memorizing his list of film credits to recite before God in an attempt to impress God? Do any of the things we noted about Audie Murphy matter now?

If you answered “yes” to any of the questions in the last three paragraphs, it would be a good idea to note how Isaiah reacted to being brought into God’s presence in Isaiah 6:8. Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am undone.” Job had all but demanded a presence before God to have a face to face discussion about his situation. He got his wish. Well, not really. He got a tongue lashing from God, and Job is highlighted by God as one of three special servants of God in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 14:14.

On the other hand, while I am certain they were not perfect, everything mentioned about the men in paragraphs 4, 5, and 6, still really matters. Even while living on the earth, their focus was not on the earth. Their focus was on Heaven. Their focus was on pleasing God and living in keeping with His will. Their focus was on what really matters.

They are no doubt peaceful and happy as they rest and await their time before the judgement seat of God. They can say with Paul in 2 Tim. 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteousness judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

The real question now, is what about me? What about you? Do you spend your time with things that don’t matter? Do you give yourself to your work to the extent that it controls your life? Do you work so much that you have no time for eternal things that do matter?

Or is it your leisure time that you treasure and seek? Is all your spare time reserved for filling your desires and doing those things designed to make you happy? Is God left out of your plans and your life? What really matters?

What about your children? Are you raising them to put their focus on Jesus? On His will and His church? Do your children see that these are the things that matter in your life? Or are these things hidden from them because they are things that really don’t matter to you? (Now) They will be the only things that matter eventually.

Because eventually, then you will die.