Jump Start # 3744
Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The devasting wildfires in California have been the center piece of the nightly news. Thousands are displaced. Many lives lost. Blame is being cast upon elected officials. Expensive mansions have been destroyed in literally just a few minutes. Legendary Hollywood stars could do nothing to stop the fires from destroying their homes that housed rare art collections. Exotic car collections were destroyed. Many people ran from their homes with just the clothes they were wearing and that’s all.
There has been lists on Facebook detailing if you had to evacuate within 15 minutes, this is what you ought to take. Then a longer list if you had but 30 minutes to leave. I thought about that the other night. I am thankful, very thankful that I have never had to go through something like that. But as I lay awake in bed, thinking what if I only had fifteen minutes, what would I grab? My office at home is filled with pictures on the walls and shelves stuffed with books and nick-nacks that I have collected through the years. Family pictures. Signed baseballs. Original Civil War roster. Arrowheads. Things that have sentimental value to me. The back of my office door is papered with the crayon pictures from my grandchildren. Fifteen minutes. Where do you start? What do you leave? What do you take?
On the surface, we’d say, ‘It’s only stuff.’ You can replace stuff. You can’t replace lives. But, that’s not completely true. I have two large portraits of my great-great grandparents. Can’t replace those. I have my grandparents beautiful wedding license that is framed. Can’t get that again.
But, in a much deeper level, this reminds us that someday we will leave everything. When it is our time to pass through the doorway of death, everything stays except our soul. Everything. And, as Solomon worried about in Ecclesiastes, who knows if the one who follows will be wise or a fool. Everything that we have loved, saved and collected may go into the trash after we are gone. Someone else may live in the house that we call home. Someone else may own what we have treasured. Someone else…
Our Lord in our verse today reminds us of what is truly important, and that is our souls. No one can take our souls from us. No one can steal our soul. No earthly disaster can touch our soul. The things around us can bring us pleasure and joy, but they ought not to define us. We are not a collection of stuff. We are disciples of Jesus Christ.
Some who have lost everything in the California fires may be destroyed financially. Some may never recover from this. But, this is not who they are. Character. Faith. Hope. Righteousness. Belief in the Lord. This is who we are. While these things are hard for us to understand and witness, we must remember what we have learned in Bible history.
The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was violent and brutal. Being displaced for more than a generation in Babylon was hard for Judah. Having to carry everything you have, as Israel left Egypt was terrible. There was no government to help them. Alone. Oppressed. Hurting. The one thing that the faithful of God have always carried with them was a deep trust in the Lord.
I pray for the citizens of California. They are hurting. I pray more for God’s people who seem so obsessed with the here and now and filling their lives with stuff that there is little time, interest or engagement in the kingdom of Heaven.
The older I become, the less attached I find myself to the stuff around me. Learning to give things to others helps. Sure, you can sell things. There are avenues to do that. But, what a gift and a blessing to simply give something to a brother.
In the midst of this harsh and tragic event in California, comes a welcome reminder to all of us. Someday, all that we have will be burned up. The Lord’s coming, Peter tells us and the earth will be burned with intense heat. Nothing will survive, nothing that is, except our souls.
Lessons learned, if our eyes are open and our hearts are reflective.
Roger