Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Every morning in my life follows a similar routine. I wake up early and find myself heading to my home office and study for prayer, study, and journaling time. Sometime during the morning, the door of my office is pushed open by a big yellow house cat that seems to think he has free rein to interrupt me whenever he feels like it. The cat is very insistent in declaring that he needs attention. He paws at my legs and vocalizes his desires.

I have found a solution to occupy the cat’s time. It is a red dot — you know, the kind that comes from a laser pointer.

I pause my study time and shine the red dot on the floor, and it is off to the races. The dot travels across the floor, up the wall and back to the floor, all with the cat chasing the dot or crouching, ready to pounce when it comes racing by. The cat pounces frantically on the red dot. He bats at the red dot as it travels along the wall, only to discover that when he actually hits the dot, there is nothing there. At times the dot just goes off, and this causes more puzzlement as the cat stares at the location where the dot seemingly disappeared, then searches all around the room wondering where it went. The wonderful thing for me is that this makes the cat tired, and then I can go back to reading, etc.

Jesus told a story of a farmer who had a very good year. In fact, the year was so good that when the harvest was complete, his barn was full to the brim. There was not enough room to store all the harvest. The farmer decided that he needed bigger barns where he could store all the harvest, and then he could just take it easy. The lesson Jesus was teaching was that the man may not live long enough to actually enjoy it all. Instead, Jesus said in Luke 12:21, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Jesus, in another place, challenged His followers to lay up their treasure in heaven and not on this earth (Matthew 6:20).

So what red dot have you been chasing?

For some it may be a promotion at work. For others it may be a bigger house, or purchasing your first house. For some it may be filling that bank account a little more. The chasing of the red dot may be none of those things. It may be that you don’t have much at all, and all you focus on is having enough money to eat the next meal and pay the rent for another month. Chasing the red dot is the same no matter your station in life. Those having much or having little can still get caught up in chasing the red dot and not focusing on Jesus and the riches of a relationship with Him.

Jesus wants us all to acknowledge Him as Lord and King of our lives — to realize that all we have comes from Him, no matter how much or little it is. He asks us to have faith in Him, trusting that He will provide for our needs, first and foremost in a spiritual way. Yes, He also performs miracles for us when it comes to physical needs as well.

Let us all stop chasing the red dot and lay up our treasures in heaven.