10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2nd Peter 3:10 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
Quite often I’ve been called to help “sort through a person’s things” after the death of a friend or loved one. Typically, some special things are kept by the family and cherished. Others things are given away or sold. And, without fail, many things are thrown into the trash. It’s just one of those tragic facts of life.
Whenever you sort through the possessions loved ones have left behind, you always find a stash of their “treasures.” Clearly they had great affection for these items and wanted them to be valued and enjoyed. Often they were saving then to use later, or perhaps they were saving them for a loved one. It’s sad to think that the person never got around them to using them. It’s even sadder when the person that the items were being saved for doesn’t want to keep them — and this is very often the case.
Having dealt with other people’s unused and unwanted possessions has given me a different attitude toward the things I have right now. For years I’ve collected vintage postcards. People have often told me, “Hang on to those because they’ll be worth something someday” or “Your grand-kids will want those.”
Well, the truth is, most of the things people save as “collector’s items” don’t wind up being worth much. And, when I’m gone, folks may want one keepsake to remind them of my life. But there probably won’t be a big wrestling match over who gets my box of picture postcards — or any of my other “collections” for that matter. Probably these things will just be stored away or tossed.
So, in light of these things, I’m making every effort to use and share all the things I’ve “squirreled away” throughout my life. For instance, I’ve started mailing my vintage-picture-postcards to people who need of a lift. People are really quite pleased when they receive one, and that makes it worth doing.
Today’s Scripture lesson (at the top) teaches us that all of our earthly goods will one day “melt with fervent heat.” So don’t get too obsessed with the material goods of this life.
Don’t hoard what will be burned on the Last Day when you can use them to warm the hearts and lives of others today!
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 28 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. (On week days has a desk-job at a public school, and until recently taught Latin on closed-circuit-television.) He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where the Preacher recently found a “Glen Campbell” postcard from 1974.) Their kids include Spencer (age 22), his wife Madeline (age 22), and Seth (age 19).
