40. The ONLY Thing That Really Matters

What does your life say about your faith?

That is a question that can stop us in our tracks.

In this touching Christmas episode of Courageous Retirement, Vona Johnson invites you to slow down and reflect on the one thing that truly matters. Inspired by her annual Christmas card and a tender memory of her dad during the advanced stages of dementia, Vona shares how a simple phrase he repeated about her stepmom revealed a deep truth about faith, love, and legacy.

Drawing from 2 Peter 1:10, Vona explores how faith is more than belief—it is a lived expression of knowing Jesus, growing spiritually, and allowing our actions to reflect the One we follow. 

Through personal stories of loss, forgiveness, and God’s gentle leading, she encourages listeners to step into a deeper, more intentional walk with Christ this Christmas season.

Whether you’re entering this holiday season with loved ones who don’t share your faith or simply feeling the weight of this stage of life, remember this: we are uniquely equipped to help others feel loved because we know what it means to love Jesus. 

As you gather with family and friends, let your presence reflect His. Being with Jesus is the only thing that truly matters—so shine a little of His light, share a little of His love, and let every conversation be touched by His grace.

Episode Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction: Reflecting on Faith
01:21 — A Personal Story of Loss and Faith
02:42 — The Imperfection of Humanity and the Need for Forgiveness
04:39 — The Importance of Faith and Spiritual Growth
08:10 — Practical Steps to Deepen Your Faith
09:49 — Final Thoughts and Christmas Reflections

Quotes from the show:
 "Don't be fooled by the glossy finishes you see of the people dressed up in walking through the doors every Sunday, sitting in the pews looking perfect each week. Every person sitting there has something going on in their life."

 "Faith is a precious gift...too many of us get this beautiful gift and we place it up on a shelf and we admire how beautiful it is, but we never take it off the shelf and we never open it up and allow it to truly change our lives."

Scripture:
2 Peter 1:1-10
John 1:1

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
What does your life say aboutyour faith?

(00:02):
That question haunts me.
The question was presented inthe footnotes of my new Living
Translation study Bible as I wasdoing my devotional this
morning.
The question came from 2 Peter1:10, which says,"Work hard to
prove that you really are amongthose.
God has called and chosen." Ispent days contemplating what I

(00:23):
was gonna do with this week'sepisode for Courageous
Retirement.
In fact, it should have beenpublished yesterday, but I
didn't have anything to say.
And then as I was doing mydevotion, it became really clear
to me that the thoughts that I'dbeen formulating to write my
annual Christmas letter yep, Istill do'em.
But God knew all along that thiswas a topic that I needed to

(00:45):
share here, and he reminded meof that this morning as I was
studying the verses in 2 Peter1:1-10.
I hope you'll stick around so Ican share some thoughts about
what really matters during thisChristmas season, this season of
advent, or truly in all seasons.

Speaker (01:03):
Do you fear?
What lies beyond retirement?
What if it's a gateway to a lifefilled with purpose, meaning,
and adventure rather than anend?
Discover peace and fulfillmentas you boldly enter this new
chapter in CourageousRetirement, a Christian podcast.
I'm your host, author, and coachVona Johnson.
Let's get started.
So a few years ago, my stepmompassed away.

(01:25):
And in the days and the weeksthat followed her passing, my
dad was in advanced stages ofdementia and had struggled
remembering that, you know,where she was.
And he kept saying, you know,when are we gonna go see her?
And there's a whole lot of stuffbehind that and some theories

(01:45):
that I have about what thatquestion really meant.
But every time he would ask methat, I would just simply say,
dad, she is gone to heaven.
She's with Jesus now.
And every time I would say thatto him, he would pause and he'd
say, yep, that's the only thingthat really matters, isn't it
though?

(02:06):
You see, even though most ofdad's memory had slipped away by
then, um, he, no, he no longerlived in his own home.
He was no longer able to carryhis cell phone.
He didn't drive anymore.
He didn't even know my nameanymore.
But he knew who Jesus was and heknew that he was gonna go see
Jesus one day, just like hiswife.

(02:27):
Siblings, parents, all of thosewho have gone before him, he
knew that that was the finaloutcome and it brought him so
much peace to know that when histime was up here on Earth, that
he would be in heaven with thosewho had passed before him.
You know, no one could everaccuse him of living his life
perfectly.
He was a good man.
In fact, Despite some of thethings that some people might

(02:50):
question activities, as aChristian, he knew that because
Jesus was his Lord and Savior,his sins were forgiven and that
he too would rest in Jesus' armsone day.
Fast forward to August 19th ofthis year, and that was exactly
what happened.
Dad went home to be with Jesusand his wife and the many others

(03:10):
who had passed before him.
As I contemplate my firstChristmas without my dad, I give
thanks for his life.
He was kind, generous to afault, and always had a smile on
his face and a word ofencouragement for those around
him.
He was just simply happy and atpeace with his life even.

(03:31):
Even though things seem to befalling apart all around him, as
I mentioned, his life wasn'tperfect.
But that's the point.
We don't have to be perfect toreceive salvation.
I've heard it said that peoplestay away from the church
because they don't want to beassociated with all those
hypocrites that are there, butwe are all broken and all in

(03:51):
need of forgiveness.
Don't be fooled by the glossyfinishes you see of the people
dressed up in walking throughthe doors every Sunday, sitting
in the pews looking perfect eachweek.
Every person sitting there hassomething going on in their
life.
They may have a broken heartbecause a loved one has walked
away from the church or theirfamily.

(04:12):
They may hold grudges againstpeople at work because that
person never carries their ownweight.
They may have a diagnosis orsome sort of pain that cannot be
cured.
They may have lost a loved onerecently, and that pain of that
loss has not healed.
They may have regrets of choicesthat they've made throughout
their life, like abortion,divorce, alcoholism, and maybe

(04:35):
even a criminal act.
But none of that matters.
Only Jesus does because he cameto save us all from our sin and
death.
That's why we have hope.
And that's why we keep comingback week after week to hear
God's living words spoken overus.
When we wander away from thechurch using others' behaviors
as our excuse, we lose touchwith the one thing, the one

(05:00):
person that can pull us out ofour despair.
See, that's what the falseteachers of the world wants
though.
They want us to doubt our faith.
They want us to doubt ourselves.
They want us to think that wealone can pull ourselves out of
it, which is simply not true.
We must rely on the Holy Spirit,which is what we get help from
as we are in the Word and prayto Jesus.

(05:22):
We see it all around us.
People who no longer believethat Jesus is who he says he is
or can do what he says he cando.
Too many want the abundance ofGod's grace and peace that is
promised to us, but they're notwilling to do the work that's
necessary to get to know himthrough the Bible study and
prayer.
We want the fruit of the spiritwithout growing and nurturing in

(05:44):
the very faith that brings usthat fruit.
To have the peace that Godpromises, we must grow in our
knowledge of God and his son,Jesus Christ.
It is the only way and is trulythe only thing that really
matters in this world.
"By his divine power, God hasgiven us everything we need to

(06:05):
live a godly life.
We have received all of this bycoming to know him, the one who
called us to himself.
By the means of his marvelousglory and excellence." That is
straight out of 2 Peter 1:3faith is a precious gift, and as
I wrote in my book A DifferentView, too many of us get this
beautiful gift and we place itup on a shelf and we admire how

(06:28):
beautiful it is, but we nevertake it off the shelf and we
never open it up and allow it totruly change our lives.
Faith has to be more thanbelieving who Jesus is.
It must result in developingstrong Christian characters.
Actions that demonstrate thelove of Jesus to others and a
good moral discipline.

(06:49):
Peter says it beautifully as wego on with verses five through
eight.
"In view of all this, make everyeffort to respond to God's
promises.
Supplement your faith withgenerous provision of moral
excellence and moral excellencewith knowledge and knowledge
with self-control.
And self-control with patientendurance and patient endurance,

(07:11):
with godliness and godlinesswith brotherly affection and
brotherly affection with thelove for everyone.
The more you grow like this, themore productive and useful you
will be in your knowledge of theLord Jesus Christ." You see, our
faith has to be an integral partof our lives and not just
something we believe.

(07:33):
It is the actions that we takeas a result of good fruit and
spiritual maturity.
We are not saved by our gooddeeds at all, but our faith
results in good deeds.
Anyone who claims to be abeliever, but whose life remains
unchanged, does not understandfaith or the beautiful gift that
God has given us.

(07:54):
Truly, if you're not making aneffort to develop the qualities
listed in the verses that Imentioned above, you may not
belong to Jesus at all.
That's a hard truth.
So what do we do about that?
Where does one even start?
With all of this?
We find a church that preachesbiblical truth.
One that goes beyond making youfeel good about yourself and

(08:17):
helps you see where you fallshort.
One that includes confession andabsolution for our sins.
I challenge you to spend time inGod's word.
Ask him what he wants you to do.
What's his will for you in yourlife?
Ask him to align your desireswith His desires, and then pray
for the wisdom, the discernment,and the courage to do his will.

(08:40):
If you need help with this,check out my book, Equipped For
More, because it helps build the10 essential habits that we need
to boldly live out our faith.
We need to guard our thoughts,our words, and our actions at
all times.
If you find yourself thinkingabout all of the negative things
that are happening around us inthis world, you need to stop and

(09:00):
you need to look for the good.
There's always good buried inall of the negative too.
There are miracles and blessingsall around us.
Watch for them and thank God forthem daily.
Be grateful to him for all ofthe beautiful things you have in
your life.
Tell others about this wonderfulgift of faith.
Point them to scripture and helpthem see where the world and

(09:22):
even some churches are leadingthem astray in the name of love.
True love's gonna help peoplesee how they are or have drifted
from God's eternal plan, and itwill point them back to the path
that he has for them.
Encourage others to get to knowJesus and then love them exactly
where they are.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to leadthem where they need to be.

(09:49):
Okay.
So my Christmas letter probablywon't go into all of that.
I'll have to give some newsabout our life and things that
are happening around here.
But the reality is that thereare people that are hurting in
the world.
They want and need the messagethat comes from scripture comes
from Jesus and his Word Italways stops me cold when I

(10:12):
realize that at the beginning ofJohn 1:1 it says,"in the
beginning, the word alreadyexisted.
The word was with God, and theword was God." So when people
try to tell you that the Bibleisn't relevant anymore, that's
like them saying that God isn'trelevant anymore, that Jesus

(10:33):
isn't relevant anymore.
There is nothing further fromthe truth.
The truth that Jesus is theword, and he wants us to love
the word like we love him and tochange our lives to live it for
him.
I just pray for you that as youwalk through these days, weeks,
months, years, decades ahead,that you will think about.

(10:57):
The only thing that reallymatters, that's literally what's
on the card that I'm gonna besending out this year.
It says, when you get right downto it, the only thing that
really matters is Jesus, thatthat is what it's all about.
So stay focused on him.
Help him be the thing that yousee in the midst of all of the

(11:19):
other things that are out there.
And if you know someone who haswalked away from the church.
Take opportunities to just showthem love.
Don't, don't call'em out.
Don't, don't make it a bigfight.
Just love them where they areand help them to hopefully see a
glimpse of Jesus through yourwords and actions.
I just really wanna challengeyou to think about what does

(11:42):
your life say about your faith?
Do you really trust God or areyou just still trying to run
everything and controleverything on your own?
Surrender to him.
Love him and love others as youlove him.
If you really wanna see myChristmas letter, send me an
email or go ahead and go tovonajohnson.com and join my

(12:03):
newsletter.
I'm gonna share it there.
It's old fashioned.
I get it.
It's, I, I just can't stopbecause to me, it's the one
opportunity every year that Iget to share Christ's love with
others.
And it's gonna bring specialmeaning to me this year because
this is my first Christmaswithout my dad.

(12:25):
And yeah, I'm gonna miss him,but I know that I know that he's
with Jesus Christ and that isthe only thing that truly
matters.
God bless you.
Thanks for stopping by today.
We'll see you in two weeks,right back here at Courageous
Retirement.
Until then, go be blessed andalways, always live your more.