What truly matters when everything is stripped away

I recently saw a survey done by a university down in the United States where they asked people one question what's the most important thing in your life ? Number one was their children . Number two was their pet , whether it be a dog or a cat or a goldfish or a bird . Number three was their cell phones and number four was their spouse .

God didn't even make the top five . There's an old song that says looking for love in all the wrong places , and while those are not all wrong places , I think there are some priorities there that can get a little bit mixed up .

I want to share a story with you this morning about a man who came to realize what truly was the most important thing in his life . I think you will enjoy it . During the Second World War , dr Viktor Frankl , who was a Viennese Jew , was interred by the Germans for more than three years . He was moved from one concentration camp to another .

He even spent several months in Auschwitz . Dr Frankel said that he learned early that one way to survive was to shave every morning , no matter how sick you were , even if you had to use a piece of broken glass as a razor .

You see , every morning as the prisoners stood for review , the sickly ones who would not be able to work that day were sent off to the gas chambers . If you were shaven and your face looked a little ruddier for it , your chances of escaping death that day were better .

Their bodies were wasted away on a daily fare of ten and a half ounces of bread and one and three-quarter pints of a very thin , terrible-tasting gruel . They slept on bare-board tiers seven feet wide , nine men to a tier . The nine men shared two blankets together .

Three shrill whistles awoke them every day for work at three am One morning , as they marched out to lay railroad ties in the frozen ground miles from the camp , the accompanying guards kept shouting and driving them with the butts of their rifles . Anyone with sore feet supported himself on his neighbor's arm .

The man next to Frankel , hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar , whispered If our wives could see us now . I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what's happening to us , frankel writes . That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind .

And as we stumbled on for miles , slipping on icy spots , supporting each other time and time again , dragging one another up and onward , nothing was said . Each of us was thinking about his wife . Occasionally I looked at the sky , where the stars were fading and the pink light of morning was beginning to spread behind the dark bank of clouds .

But my mind clung to my wife's image , imagining it with an uncanny acuteness . I heard her answering me , saw her smile . I heard her answering me , saw her smile , her frank and encouraging look . A thought transfixed me .

For the first time in my life , I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets , proclaiming as the final wisdom by so many thinkers the truth that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which men can aspire .

Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart the salvation of man is through love and in love . 1 Corinthians 13.13 tells us Three things will last forever—faith , hope and love . And the greatest of these is love . Love is such a powerful and beautiful force . It will bind people together .

It will give us strength and hope in the midst of darkness , and God's love for us is greater than anything we can even imagine . Romans 5.8 tells us that God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners . It is what gives us hope and life , and our love for Him and for our spouses should be ours .

Have a great day , my friends . We will talk again tomorrow , again tomorrow . Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday , right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac .