“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon
earth, where moth and rust destroys, 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 or steal; for where your treasure is there
will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus’ words
Recently I was rearranging a drawer. In it was an old certificate that was faded
and cracked—ready to become worthless tatters. Almost 60 years ago it was very
important—worth saving. Now it is the height of unimportance. About 60 years ago
it said something about me that I thought was important. Now it is laughable!
Time changes everything—especially that which we view as an important need.
In pursing what we call life, we confuse want with need.
Have you noticed how often we refer to a want as a need? I laughingly told
someone recently that it took me 25 years to acquire my hunting gear (oh, how
deliberately I assembled each piece I needed). It took maybe a month to
dispose of it (suddenly I did not need any of it).
I wonder how much all of us acquire in life only to discover “I did not need
that.” Joyce often says there will not be a dumpster big enough to hold all that
our children will throw away when we die. We can, even now, hear them say, “Why
did Mom and Dad keep THAT?” When we die, we all will leave many things
that none of us would like to be used to define who we were or what was
important in our lives.
There is an eternity. This physical life is NOT all there is. With Jesus, when
we are presented to God, who we were will be far more important than what we
owned. The issue in physical life (to God) will not be what we managed to
acquire, but who in Jesus we were. The issue will be how we lived because we
understood Jesus’ values (which are God’s values). It will involve the
importance we placed on the eternal.
Wonder how our priorities in physical life would change, how our purchases would
be altered, and how our collections would change if we lived life again after
we met God? You do not have to meet God to change—time will show us how silly we
are! As we get older, the things that were so important in younger days
become unimportant. Refuse to let the unimportant rule your existence! Live for
the eternal!
David Chadwell
Link to other Writings of David Chadwell