When Autumn was very small, she stayed with a neighbor while we went to work. The neighbor was a wonderful Christian lady who homeschooled her own two children. The youngest, a son, loved to watch movies and television stories about Jackie Chan. He is a Hong Kong actor best known for his amazing stunts using “karate” as well as other forms of martial arts. One day Autumn came home and informed her mother and me that she was Jackie Chan! She would extend her hand in a karate chop motion and say, “I’m Jacking Chan.” It was both hilarious and tiring. A three-year-old practicing being “Jackie Chan” can wear thin on your nerves surprising quickly, (although it was adorable!)
Yet, it is not just young children who are influenced by the society around us. Today we are bombarded with celebrities, politicians, and social media companies all trying to shape us for one purpose or another. They may not want me to be Jackie Chan, but they do want to shape what I buy, what I believe, and what everything in between. One of my favorite verses in all of scripture reminds us of a very important truth that needs repeating in today world – It not all about us, but about God. Ecclesiastes, 12:13 states, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man, (KJV).
I fear we have often settled for less than the “whole duty of man.” The writer of Ecclesiastes had explored all the world had to offer and realized, (again), that God was most important. He is still the most important! No matter what the world tries to distract us with. May we truly worship the Lord in “spirit and in truth” and with “clean hands and a pure heart.”
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