June 27

Country Cool?

I once thought all these things were so important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.

Philippians 3:7 (NLT)


I sit here in the car repair waiting room watching TV. I don’t watch much television, especially Country Music Television, but I have to ask, do people really enjoy this stuff?

Don’t get me wrong, there are times I enjoy listening to Country music … but this? Best I Ever Had … Beer for My Horses ... Let’s Get Drunk and Be Somebody?

Now, I know taste in music is a personal thing. What people find entertaining varies widely. What individuals find important or significant varies as well. Yet, those things with eternal significance are limited: God, others, living beyond self. I guess that’s what was bothering me in the waiting room: people fixating on self, on small things, on such valueless ideas. In the scale of eternity these things don’t matter. If they don’t matter to God, should they matter to me?

The Apostle Paul used to be consumed with his lofty credentials. I mean, he was somebody in Jewish society and in his own eyes too. But then he met Jesus Christ, and he saw the truth. He saw how small he really was.

Paul said he put away childish things. For some of us it takes a long time, and I have to ask myself, what things do I think are so cool, or so important, when in fact they are not? When will we see the shallowness? When will we understand His greatness and what He offers us instead? When will we give Him all the space in our hearts?


Lord, open our eyes to this truth: You are everything. Amen.