“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” — Matthew 16:26
“It doesn’t matter.”
That’s a phrase we say and hear often. “It doesn’t matter.” Or, “Why does it matter?” What are we really implying when we use the word “matter?”
Matter: (noun) the substance or substances of which any physical object consists or is composed; (verb) to be of importance.
So what we’re really asking is, “Does this decision or thing have great or little actual significance or substance to it?” That’s a question worth slowing down for. Because how you answer it shapes everything about how you live and how you lead.
The Value Placement Problem
What we might want to be more concerned with is what we actually attach this tag line to. There really are some things in our lives that we allow substance and value to be given that they do not actually warrant. Conversely, we allow so much to fly by with little or no value and substance placement when in reality it is of great significance.
Leaders deal with this tension constantly. Every day you’re making decisions about what matters and what doesn’t. What gets your time. What gets your energy. What gets your attention. What gets pushed to the side. And the uncomfortable truth is that most leaders have never stopped long enough to ask whether their value placement actually lines up with God’s.
Does it matter if you have a good job? Yes. Does it matter more than a person’s soul? No. Does having food to eat matter? Yes. Does having the right brand, flavor, and preference matter more than simply meeting the need? No.
Those examples are easy to agree with. But here’s where it gets harder for leaders. Does a growing organization matter? Yes. Does it matter more than the spiritual health of the people inside it? No. Does hitting your goals matter? Yes. Does it matter more than how you treat the people who help you get there? No. Does your reputation matter? Yes. Does it matter more than your integrity when nobody’s watching? No.
The answers seem obvious on paper. But the way most leaders actually spend their time, energy, and emotional capacity tells a different story. We say people matter more than programs, and then we spend eighty percent of our week on programs. We say character matters more than results, and then we celebrate results and ignore character. We say the eternal matters more than the temporary, and then we lose sleep over temporary things and barely think about the eternal.
That’s the value placement problem. And every leader has it to some degree.
Everything Has an Outcome
Here’s one to chew on: there is always an outcome to everything. Good, bad, or indifferent, there is an outcome. We may just need to start there. Everything has an outcome.
For some people, knowing and believing this would alter, to some degree, their thought processes and the actions that follow. It might even challenge and ultimately change the way they live life. For leaders, this reality should be front and center in every decision you make. Because the things you treat as though they don’t matter still produce outcomes. The conversation you skipped because it felt too small? It had an outcome. The relationship you neglected because you were too busy? It had an outcome. The compromise you made because it seemed insignificant at the time? It had an outcome.
And the things you treat as though they matter enormously, the metrics, the milestones, the external markers of success, those have outcomes too. But the outcomes might not be the ones you expected. You can gain the whole world by those measures and still forfeit something far more valuable in the process. That’s not a theoretical warning. That’s Jesus asking you a direct question in Matthew 16:26, and He’s waiting for an answer.
Who Gets to Decide What Matters?
It’s quite obvious that simply saying something does or does not matter is not valid on its own. Why? Because we are all so different, and a mere mortal trying to ascribe a universal standard to any one thing based solely on their own perspective is nothing short of shortsighted. It’s too subjective. What one person thinks is important may seem completely insignificant to another.
However, to God, all things matter. The value placement set by His sovereignty leaves us dependent on Him for the knowledge into that value system, and the functional application of it for life.
This is where leaders have to make a fundamental choice. Either you set the standard for what matters in your leadership, or you let God set it. And those two standards will not always agree.
When you set the standard, you’ll naturally gravitate toward what produces visible results, what earns approval, what keeps the machine running. Those aren’t necessarily bad things, but they’re limited things. They’re shaped by your perspective, your experience, your blind spots. And your perspective is always incomplete.
When God sets the standard, things get reordered. The small conversation with the struggling volunteer suddenly carries more weight than the strategic planning meeting. The quiet act of obedience nobody sees matters more than the public win everyone celebrates. The person in front of you right now matters more than the project that’s demanding your attention. Not because projects don’t matter. But because God’s value system puts people and faithfulness and eternal significance at the top of the list, and our value system tends to put them somewhere in the middle.
I’ve watched leaders have this realization and it changes everything about how they operate. Not because they stop being strategic or stop caring about outcomes. But because they start filtering every decision through a different question. Not “does this matter to me?” but “does this matter to God? And how much?”
Seeing Life from His Perspective
It’s not a matter of what is or isn’t, or does or doesn’t matter. Maybe the better approach is to seek the One who set the standard for matter and ask intently to see all of life from His perspective. Time with Him in conversation and in His Word are the key factors for this kind of insight.
That’s the shift leaders need to make. You’ll never get your value placement right by thinking harder about it. You’ll get it right by spending time with the One who knows what everything is actually worth. The more time you spend in His presence and in His Word, the more your sense of what matters starts to align with His. Things that used to consume your energy start to shrink in significance. Things you used to overlook start to carry more weight. Your leadership begins to reflect His priorities instead of just your own.
This is deeply connected to being a reliable messenger. A messenger who doesn’t understand the sender’s value system will inevitably misrepresent the message. If you’re carrying God’s mission but operating under your own definition of what matters, the message gets distorted. People watch how you spend your time, what you prioritize, what you celebrate, and what you ignore. And from all of that, they form an understanding of what God values. If your value placement is off, so is the message you’re delivering.
But when a leader’s sense of what matters is aligned with God’s, the impact is unmistakable. People don’t just hear about God’s priorities. They see them lived out. That’s the kind of leadership that changes lives, not because of how impressive it is, but because of how true it is.
Next Steps for the Leader Who Wants to Get “Matter” Right
Do a value placement audit this week. Look at your calendar, your bank statement, and your emotional energy from the last thirty days. Those three things will tell you honestly what you’ve been treating as though it matters most. Does it align with what God says matters most? If there’s a gap, name it. That’s where the realignment starts.
Ask God’s perspective before assigning value. Before your next big decision, try this: instead of asking “is this a good opportunity?” ask “does this matter to You, Lord? And how much?” Let His answer set the weight you give it. This isn’t about spiritualizing every minor choice. It’s about building the habit of checking your value system against His before you act.
Slow down on the things you’ve dismissed. Is there a relationship, a conversation, a responsibility, or a spiritual discipline you’ve been treating as though it doesn’t matter? Reconsider. God’s value system often places enormous significance on the things we’ve been rushing past. The person you keep meaning to call. The prayer time you keep cutting short. The family moment you keep postponing for work. Those might matter far more than you’ve been giving them credit for.
Let Matthew 16:26 sit with you. Read it again slowly. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” That question isn’t just about salvation in the eternal sense. It’s about how you live today. What are you gaining right now that might be costing you something you can’t afford to lose? Let Jesus ask you that question directly, and sit with the answer.
Pray the prayer. Maybe start here: “Jesus, I’m sorry for using my own selfish perspective and limited knowledge of life to make insufficient and inadequate decisions and judgments. I am not qualified to be in control of my own life, much less someone else’s. Help me to see You, myself, and others the way You do. Help me to know that it all matters to You, and You are the only one who can help me face each event, person, and decision in life with the appropriate sense of matter. I lean on You. Trust You. Thank You. Your love and leadership in my life means everything. And yes Lord, it really does matter.”
Because it does. All of it. Every decision, every conversation, every moment of leadership you’ve been given. It all matters. The question is whether you’ve been assigning value the way God does, or the way the world does.
Seek the One who set the standard. And let Him teach you what really matters.