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An
Outreach Publication of the Church of Christ at
Creekwood |
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"What
Really Matters?" Sudden
loss often causes us to view life differently. One
man put it this way when he suddenly found himself on
a hospital bed: "I
came to realize I no longer really cared for what the
world chases after, such as how much money you have in
the bank and how many cars are parked in the garage.
As it says in Ecclesiastes, chasing after these things
is like chasing the wind, anyway. Suddenly, the rat
race became vanity to me, utter vanity. I felt naked
before God. "If
I died, I would take none of the stuff with me. All
that really mattered ultimately was my relationship
with the Lord, my relationship with family and
friends. If it weren't for the loss of my health, I
could have wasted the rest of my life chasing
achievements and acquiring more transitory
things." This man learned a lesson that all of us need to learn: we need to learn to distinguish between those things that are temporary and those that are eternal. Consider
the Egyptian pyramids – fancy names for “tombs”
really - and all that treasure
they intended to take with them on their
journey into the next world.
Those treasures are now scattered about on
display in museums all over the world.
Today, we think of this as strange and foolish
- a pagan practice.
But I wonder sometimes if we’re not doing the
very same thing with our desire for more and more.
You know, I have
never seen a hearse pulling a U-haul trailer!
There is a good reason for this:
Solomon, the richest man who ever lived, tells
us: “Naked
a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes,
so he departs. He
takes nothing from his labor that he can carry
in his hand” (Ecclesiastes 5:15).
The apostle Paul also writes:
“For we brought nothing into this
world and of a certainty we can carry nothing
out” (1Timothy 6:7). Now hear the words of Jesus: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). Jesus
is warning against the giving of our lives for those
things which are only temporary.
Any man whose treasure is in ”
things”
will one day lose his treasure, for in things
there is no permanence, and no material thing lasts
forever. Once
a rich man in the community died. Someone asked, “How much did he leave?” Another replied, “He
left it
ALL.”
Now
notice that the bible says we are NOT redeemed
with “perishable
things” such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood
of Christ (See 1Peter 1:18).
None of us could ever purchase our own
salvation; Jesus was the only one who could pay the
price, and He did!
We accept His offer of redemption through our faith
(Hebrews 11:6), repentance (Acts 17:30), baptism
for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38), and by living
faithfully to Him (1 John 1:7). “The
world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who
does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17
NKJV). Only
one life, ‘twill soon be past; Only what’s done
for Christ will last! And
so at the end of the day, it is not the wealth,
position or title we hold in life that matters, but
how we use what He has placed temporarily
in our hands. As
we travel down the corridor of time toward eternity,
are we wisely
investing our lives in that which “really
matters”?
God
bless you! David A. Sargent / M. Eddlemon
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