You Can't Take It With You

This is a topic I've addressed here before and also preached and taught on so it's not new, but maybe a new way of thinking about it for some.  The idea comes from author Randy Alcorn but I've put it more or less in my own words.  

Suppose you are offered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in Paris, France for a period of time.  The pay you are being offered is more than you have ever or will ever be able to make again and of course the location is fantastic.  The timeline is a little fuzzy.  No one is exactly sure how long the job will last-somewhere in the neighbourhood of a few months.  The termination date will be without warning.  One day you'll be told the job is finished and you'll be immediately put on a plane for home.  In spite of these uncertainties, the job is too good to pass up.

Once you arrive in France you find that there is one more catch.  You may live however and wherever you like and purchase anything you wish, but you cannot take anything with you when you leave France and return home.  You can't bring back any money or goods of any kind.  However you can send all the money you want back home while you're still in France.  

You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

So here's the question: How will you live while in France?  Will you find the most expensive hotel possible to live in for those few months?  Will you replace all the furniture in that hotel room with the things that better suit your tastes?  Will you buy expensive paintings and the latest electronic gadgets and a fancy sports car?  Will you eat out in expensive restaurants, soak in every form of entertainment and basically live like a celebrity?  Sounds like fun, doesn't it!

But remember, in a few months you will have to leave it all behind and you won't have anything to show for what you've spent or acquired.  Will you spend everything you get or will you send as much back home as you can so you can enjoy it there?  Will you live high on the hog for a few months or send your fortune home and set yourself up for the many years to come?

This is not a hypothetical situation for the believer in Christ.  If we let the few months in France represent our lives on earth now and the many years at home represent eternity in Heaven, we have a real-life case we need to think about.

1Timothy 6:18-19

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

Grace, peace and happy treasure-building,

Dave

I Need You Jesus!

The song is actually called Rescue. Full of Bible truth! Amazing Saviour! When I admit my weaknesses, my need of Him, He comes to rescue and give me His strength.

(There are other versions on Youtube with video but I found they distracted from the words.)

Grace and peace,

Dave

Luke Warm Christians Are The Most Miserable People On Earth

I chose three Junior High boys who couldn't resist my offer of free food and drink: a cup of Tim Horton's hot chocolate, a bowl of ice cream and (not quite so well received) a glass of milk.  I neglected to tell them that these items had sat out on my counter all night, but it didn't take them long to find out.  The one drinking the milk actually spit a mouthful back into the cup saying it was sour.  This wasn't some practical joke, but a means to try and involve these Christian school kids in a talk on lukewarmness.

Lukewarm is the word Jesus chose to refer to a church in Revelation 3.  He chose that word because He found this church disgusting.  

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth."  Revelation 3:15-16

There is much that could be said about this passage, but I want to touch on one point that I made to that group of teens.  I believe that lukewarm Christians are among the most unhappy people in the world.  I say that from experience.  When I am lukewarm I'm just going through the motions of following God.  I have enough truth to know what God expects and what I ought to do, but it all just seems to be a bunch of rules.  I do it because I'm expected to, or to avoid guilt, or to look good.  But my heart isn't in it.  It's a chore.  There's no pleasure in just going through the motions.  We feel guilty if we don't do the things we know to be right and we feel guilty when we do them because our heart is not in it.  Life becomes miserable.  An unbeliever can have worldly fun without feeling that guilt.  Not so for lukewarm Christians.  They know enough about God that they can't enjoy the world, but not enough to truly enjoy God.  Jesus says this to the lukewarm Christian:

"Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched, and miserable and poor and blind and naked."  3:17

Lukewarmness not only makes us miserable, it somehow at the same time, fools us into thinking that we have all we need.  Perhaps more precisely, it fools us into believing that the things of the world will make us happy and that we do not need Jesus.  

Jesus says the solution is to repent, open the door to His presence and seek Him for the things that will truly bring us joy.  I'm going to leave it at that and encourage you to read the whole passage and ask the Lord to help you see any lukewarmness creeping into your life. 

Grace and peace,

Dave