And They Called It Junk!
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles, uncategorized
While rummaging around in our garage, I found all the awards that our son had achieved during his years as a boy scout, including his Eagle Scout badge. There they were in a box — about to be thrown out. I immediately thought of the blood, sweat, and tears that had gone into gaining those awards, and now my wife and I were putting them in the trash. They no longer had any value to our son.
It reminded me of a whimsical children’s poem by Shel Silverstein entitled, “Hector The Collector.” It describes all the things that Hector collected over the years. He “loved them more than shining diamonds, loved them more than glistenin’ gold.” Then Hector called to all his friends, “Come and share my treasure trunk!” And all the people “came and looked and called it junk.”
So it will be at the end of our lives. All our possessions — things we’ve spent a lifetime working for — will be nothing but junk. That’s when we’ll surely know that the best things in life are not things (Luke 12:15).
But we can have the right perspective now, as Paul did: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:7 KJV). We can keep a proper attitude about our possessions, because we possess the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. Our greatest riches are the riches we have in Christ.
O the unsearchable riches of Christ!
Wealth that can never be told;
Riches exhaustless of mercy and grace,
Precious, more precious than gold. –J.R. Sweney