The details that led up to this are not terribly important…..perhaps a topic for another day. We arrived at the prison early in the morning. There was a remarkably detailed security screening to get in. I was rejected and sent back outside 4 times to correct some violation of the rules before they finally let me in. We went to a well lit room and waited with about 100 other visitors. There was a 3 foot by 3 foot space marked out on the floor. We were allowed to hug my son briefly inside of the square; but, no other physical contact was allowed. There were other similar rules posted on the walls. My son was extremely careful about following these rules……so careful that it was almost strange. It turns out that breaking the rules could add a year or two to his imprisonment.

What was so strange was that my son, who had spent his life making and following his own set of rules was now carefully studying and adhering to an extensive set of external rules. He followed the rules even when he disagreed with them. He followed the rules even when he didn’t understand them …..when he couldn’t see the logic behind them.

There are two things that I learned about rules during that visit:

Rules are costly. They cost the person who must follow them by restricting their freedom. They cost the person who made the rules by the price of monitoring and enforcing the rules. It can cost up to $70,000/year to imprison someone…….and that doesn’t include the cost of law enforcement prior to imprisonment. Why do we tolerate these costs? We spend all of this time, effort, and money, because the rules help our society to function smoothly and safely. Every rule that I encountered in that prison was designed to make my visit with my son safer and more productive…….and every one of them was a pain in the neck.

Rules are the interface between us and a legitimate authority. Whether we understand the rules……whether we like the rules……whether we agree with the rules or not…….we are subject to them and their consequences. The fact that we may not like the authority…….that we may not even know the authority…….that we don’t understand the motivation and the plan of the authority is irrelevant.

Like a child……we chafe against the rules. Once, my wife asked my son why he didn’t like school. His reply:

“Because I can’t do whatever I want!”.

And that pretty much sums up our relationship with God and his rules. The rules become a problem when our plans are different from God’s plans.

There are three things about God’s plan:

It comes out of love. Love for his entire creation is the essence of God.

The rules are a manifestation of God’s plan…….and his plan is a manifestation of his love…….and his rules are good…….even when we cannot see where they are taking us. It may even be a destination that is generations away.

The rules are a manifestation of God’s authority. It is his plan for us that counts…….not ours.

So……you discover that you are pregnant. You are going to have a child……and that child is not a part of your plan. Fact is, your child is going to disrupt your plan for your life. Having just returned from the prison, I can tell you that this disruption is not just a possibility…….it is a certainty.

Know that your child is a creation of God and is a part of his good plan. Maybe your child will make a big contribution to mankind…….maybe it will be your great grandchild who cures cancer. Maybe your great great granddaughter has a critical role…….in God’s plan.

And that is your delimma……every day.

My rules……..or God’s rules.

My plan……or God’s plan.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul, Romans 13:10 ESV

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

John 20:21-22 ESV

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

Matthew 8:8-10 ESV

I was born with it.

20/200.

And that is my good eye. I’m now 71 years old and can no longer adjust my focus from near to far. Add in the “floaters” and, someday soon, cataracts and you can get an idea of my vision.

I’ll never forget my first pair of glasses. I got them in second grade. Intellectually, I knew that trees had leaves……but I never dreamed that I was supposed to be able to see them.

Now I have lots of glasses:

Bifocals for general use.
Computer glasses…..for mid distance work.
Shooting glasses for the range
Safety glasses for up close work in the shop.
Magnifying glasses for super close work.
No glasses for reading.

You get the point.

I get ready to do something……then I choose the glasses best suited for that specific job. And it usually works pretty well…….as long as I am diligent and honest about my choice of glasses….as long as I have access to the right pair of glasses. We’ve all been in a restaurant where an older person can’t read the menu because they didn’t bring their reading glasses.

There is a flip side to the glasses problem, though. Every pair of glasses that I own shows me the world……at a very specific and fairly limited distance. In effect, my glasses filter everything else out. My shop glasses are great for work from 1 to 4 feet. But they confine me to a world where the trees are great green blobs…….without leaves. For me, every pair of glasses is also a filter.

The problem arises when we begin to use filters to eliminate things in our world that we just don’t like. This has become the norm in our political conversation. Conservatives watch Fox which filters out anything positive about liberals. Liberals watch CNN which filters out anything positive about Conservatives. Both sides wind up operating on a different set of facts.

And so we fight. And so we call each other names. We even try to kill each other. But, that is not the worst side of “filters”.

We shop around for a church that we like. This often means a church that teaches a brand of religion that agrees with our opinions…….a church that filters out any teaching that makes us uncomfortable. Possibly a church that tells us that whatever we are doing is OK and filters out passages of the Bible that convict us. The pastor chooses Bible verses that reinforce our life choices and filter out anything that might challenge us. If the pastor starts preaching on topics that are challenging……we fire him or her. This works because most Christians don’t read the Bible on their own.

And that is my challenge for you today. If you are to avoid the trap of a church that sells you a filtered brand of Jesus, you must study the Bible…….all of it……on your own. You must go to the primary source…….the owners manual. Because, if your understanding of Jesus and his teaching doesn’t tell you that you need to make adjustments, you are either a saint……or you are consuming a filtered brand of Christianity.

When was the last time your pastor preached about a burning hell?

When was the last time your pastor preached about loving your enemy……in concrete terms (i.e. loving the political candidate that you are going to vote against)?

When was the last time your pastor preached about creation…….in seven days?

If you haven’t been hearing about these things, it is possible that you are suffering from Christian myopia……..caused by a poor set of glasses or a filter.

Maybe you need to spend more time with the owners manual.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Jesus in Matthew 16: 24

I made a recent post about happiness. This week, I want to take it up a notch. Happiness on steroids.

The best term I can come up with is Joy.

We all experience joy from time to time. We meet people who are joyful most of the time and we wonder how they do it…….is it some kind of a trick? I’m sure we would like more joy. So……how do you increase the joy in your life? A good starting point is to assess the things that bring you joy.

Here is my list:

Sitting in a field watching the sun come up……especially on a crisp fall morning when the maples and sassafras trees are bright red and orange.

A loving touch from my wife.

A conversation with one of my granddaughters.

A pileated woodpecker in my yard.

The list goes on.

Some of these are things that I can seek out. Others cannot be “arranged”…….but even with these, we can run our lives in a manner that makes them more likely.

I can get up before sunrise, make a pot of coffee, and sit in my back yard.

I can arrange for quiet, private time with my wife.

I can take a granddaughter out to lunch.

I can give someone a hand…..especially when they don’t expect it.

I can avoid situations that are joyless.

For example:

Watching another “shoot ’em up” on TV.

Listening to some “talking head” selling his political agenda………often filled with hate.

Worrying about things that I cannot change.

Hurting the people who hurt me….by what I say and do.

These acts of commission……..or omission do not guarantee joy. But, they will increase the probability of joy. If you can consistently pursue the things that bring you joy and avoid the things that are joyless, you will become a more joyful person. And there are consequences that flow from this.

Your joy will spread to those around you.

Your joy will grow.

And that’s a good thing……right? But, let’s dig down a little bit. Why do we seek joy?

I believe that joy is our natural state. The desire for joy is written on our heart. It was put there by our creator. If you could describe God in one word…….that word would be love. Joy is love’s sibling. I have heard it said that joy is the surest sign of the presence of God. Look closely at the teachings of Jesus. They will all lead you…..indirectly…….to joy. Christianity, at its core, is a religion of love and joy. If you see someone who claims to be a Christian but who is not joyful most of the time, you are looking at someone who is either a “poser” or someone who just doesn’t understand.

I believe that the primary characteristic of paradise will be joy. What’s not to love about that?

So…..adopt the practices that will grow joy in yourself…..and in others. It will be a good warmup for paradise.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jesus in John 15:11, ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23,ESV

As is my habit, I got up this morning, buttered some toast, made a cup of coffee and did my morning Bible reading. It is Sunday. It slipped up on me……again. And I had nothing for today’s blog. So, I laid back and quietly listened……..nothing. I sensed that, even though it is cold, I should go for a walk. Maybe there was something for me there. It is a cold, dry, cloudless night. The stars are spectacular……especially Orion. I walked…… I listened…….still nothing. My dog Jet was with me. I decided to build a fire in the fire pit. But first, I went back into the house…….just for a minute.

I told Jet, “stay……wait……I’ll be right back”……and I left him standing there…….out in the cold……alone. He was puzzled……sad……maybe even disappointed. He didn’t understand. He probably felt abandoned.

Just like me…….when I find myself in a spiritual “dry patch”.

And I think that this is the message for today. Sometimes God just walks away…….without any explanation…….without any reason that we can detect. Sometimes, God just leaves us alone. We are confused, sad, disappointed. We feel abandoned. Some of us turn away from God. We say, “he wasn’t there for me when I needed him……I’ll show him “.

The Bible spends a lot of ink on the presence of God…..on the times when he acts with us……for us. There is very little ink spent on the times when he just goes away. Jesus often went away to pray and meditate. He left his disciples to fend for themselves. Ever wonder how they felt? The closest relationship in the Bible was between Jesus and his father. Yet, even with Jesus…….in his greatest moment of need…….during the crucifixion…..God walked away.

But, here’s the thing:

I came back. I kept my promise. And Jet and I enjoyed the fire……and the beautiful night sky…….and each other.

God always comes back to his people. Even when he lets us sit out in the cold and dark for a while. We don’t understand the why. We don’t know the timing. We don’t have a clue as to what he was doing while he was away. Those things are not for us to know. What is required of us…….is to stay……to wait……until he returns. This calls for trust and faith. God asks that I be as trusting and faithful as Jet. That is my job.

Sometimes God speaks……..even in the silence.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

Psalm 22:1-2, ESV

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mathew 27:46 ESV

One of the recurring themes of the Bible is that this world is imperfect. And more importantly……..it is temporary. Even the pure scientists agree. We just disagree on the time frame and on the details. This means that the earth, mankind as we know it, and our culture……..will end. Today I will dive into the end of the world……..according to the Bible……..according to the guy who created it……..according to God. You probably have figured out that this week’s post is mainly for the mature Christian. If you are a secular humanist, you might enjoy it for its entertainment value. If you are just dipping your toe into Christianity, this is where mankind is headed…….someday. Please understand, I am not trying to draw any parallels between Biblical prophesy and current events or personalities. I will not be digging into current events to identify the antichrist. That has been tried before.

The Bible is loaded with prophesy. Much of it is vague and deeply buried in symbolism. I have a hard time working my way through Daniel and Revelation. My Bible reading today includes the second chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians. To my eye, this is the clearest biblical description of the end. Paul describes a series of events:

A period of increasing lawlessness brought on by a delusion based on lies.

Behind the Delusion is a man of lawlessness who is being restrained by another being.

Lawlessness will increase until there is a rebellion. This will occur when God is ready.

During the rebellion, the being who is restraining the man of lawlessness will be removed freeing the man of lawlessness and things will go from bad to worse.

The man of lawlessness will set himself up…..as God……and will perform miracles.

Jesus will destroy the man of lawlessness and usher in a time of peace for his followers…….and pain for non-believers.

So…..what are the practical implications of this?

First, I don’t know where we are on this continuum and neither do you and neither does your preacher.

Second, things are bad and they are going to get much worse.

Third, at some point, there will be a division between those who believed the truth and those who believed the delusion. One group will be rewarded, the other will be punished.

You may ask: isn’t this unfair……isn’t this exclusionary. You may conclude that you don’t like this ending……that you don’t like this God and his “religion”.

But, I would say that you are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking, “do I approve of this ending?” You should be asking, “is it true?”

I say that it is true…….because Jesus says that it is true.

And a man who rose from 3 days in a tomb is a man I can trust.

for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Paul, second Thessalonians, 2:3-11, ESV

We are all looking for love.

Bear with me here……I’m going to back into this…….how to find love. Because there are lots of people out there struggling to find it. And it is hard to find……if you don’t know what it is.

There is a lot of pain going around. I look at the people around me and many of them are hurting. These are people whom I love. On a first glance, if you ask asked me what I want for them, I would say that I want their pain to go away. But, then I consider people who are in pain who seem to be doing well. These people carry their pain with grace, dignity, and, yes, with joy. Maybe pain relief is not what we all need. So……what is my wish for the people in my world who are hurting?

I want them to be happy.

And it occurred to me that this is the beating heart of a good working definition of love.

Love means that you want the other guy to be happy. Not only that……..you do something about it.

That could mean buying them an ice cream cone. Certainly, that is an expression of love. But, a much more powerful love is a love that looks down the road and works to maximize their happiness when you consider their entire life……..their eternity. After all, maybe the ice cream is bad for their diabetes.

So…..an even better definition of love is that you work for the long term happiness of the other guy.

Sounds pretty straightforward.

And then Christianity enters the mix…….and things get much harder.

Christianity teaches love. Anybody who sells you something that they call Christianity…….but that is not permeated by love……..is a liar…….or perhaps worse.

A Christian is required……required…….. to do two things:

Love God
Love everybody else

That’s it…..that’s all.

Christian love is not an abstract……warm, fuzzy, feeling kind of thing. It is active. It is concrete. Christian love has feet. It is……..it does. So what does this look like in practical terms.

There is no better example……there is no better teacher……than Jesus.

Jesus took off his God outfit and came to us to teach us how to love. For three years he explained the theory of love. And then he voluntarily submitted himself to a brutal death.

Why?

Because he wanted to make us happy…….in the long run……in an eternal time frame.

The crucifixion is the greatest practical act of love in human history. It is not some random event that happened to Jesus. He chose it. Consider that for a minute. The fact that Jesus voluntarily chose the cross changes everything.

We are told to take up our cross and follow this man…..Jesus. I have never been comfortable with this metaphor, because I never understood it…….until today.

Taking up our cross means doing the hard, practical work of loving the other guy…….of making him happy……in an eternal time frame.

So……if you want to spot love……look for the people doing the hard practical work of making others happy……in the long run.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”.

Jesus in John 15:13, ESV

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jesus in John 15: 9-11

“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus in Mark 12:29-31, ESV

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Jesus in Luke 9:23, ESV

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Dawkins, “The God Delusion”

Dawkins is obviously not a fan. So, let’s have a look at this.

It is all over the old testament, less so in the new testament. God does something hurtful or destructive. I’m not talking about a parking ticket here. I’m talking about a catastrophe: famine, pandemic, flood, invasion, exile, banishment…..you get the point. God intentionally does something that causes us great pain, even death. And we really don’t like it. Some of us, like Dawkins, declare God to be an enemy. But, if you look closer, the hurtful things that God does clearly come in two flavors:

The bad things God does to his “people”, both Jew and Gentile.

The bad things that God does to those who are harming his people.

In each case, the bad thing is about the same. The difference is in what follows the plague, flood, invasion, famine, etc. When God harms those who are hurting his people, he walks away and leaves the wreckage behind……forever. The countries that abused Israel in the old testament have never fully recovered…..even to this day. On the other hand, when God does something painful to his people, the harm has an end and is followed by a blessing. This is a key distinction.

The disasters that God visits on the enemies of his people are a punishment. There is no healing. There is no redemption. The disasters that God visits on his people are always followed by rapproachment…….healing and renewal of the relationship. This, I think, is the lesson of the book of Job.

The point here is this: “how should we react when tragedy strikes?”

And, as usual, the answer is: “it depends”. It depends on where you stand in your relationship with your creator.

If you have no relationship, if you are God’s enemy, if you are not one of his people…….then you have several options:

Go to war with God….like Dawkins. It’s a heady experience. You may even become rich and famous. But, you will lose. Just ask the Egyptians or the Assyrians or the Babylonians.

Reassess your allegiances. Consider the possibility…….that you are on the wrong side of the fence. Unlike football, when it’s late in the 4th quarter and you’re down by 49 points, you can switch teams. This is the essence of the gospel……God’s greatest gift.

If you are one of God’s people, it is a bit more complicated. Sometimes bad things just happen and God is not behind them……..but sometimes he is. So when disaster strikes, you need to consider the possibility that God is trying to steer you away from something that you are doing or that he is trying to steer you toward something that is better for you and for him.
Just like a good parent, God wants happiness and success for you……in the long run. This is the essence of parental discipline and love. This is the essence of God’s discipline and love.

I have seen my share of disasters. Was God behind them? I don’t know……..and I don’t care. What I do know is that there is a prize waiting for me. So I will use the tragedies that come my way to grow my relationship with my creator. Someday, we will meet. And then I will understand. Meanwhile……..I will trust.

I punished them, and hid my face in anger,
   yet they kept on in their willful ways.
I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
   I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, creating praise on their lips.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”

God in Isaiah 57: 17-19

Most cars have a blind spot……actually two of them. They are located in the lane beside you just behind your field of vision as you look down the road and just in front of what you can see in your mirrors. These blind spots aren’t very big……..just big enough to fit a semi tractor into. Furthermore, when you change lanes you move your car right into that blind spot. If you don’t turn your head and visually check your blind spot…….and if there is a car ….or a semi…..there……you are probably going to have an accident…….an accident that was entirely preventable.

The problem is that many, perhaps most, drivers either don’t believe in the blind spot or are too lazy to check it. You know this. How many times have you been driving down a lane and had to jam on your brakes when the driver in the next lane pulled into your lane? It’s not that he was being a jerk. He did it because he didn’t see you…….because he didn’t look. He didn’t check his blind spot.

So….what is the point?

The point is that if you don’t believe in something and it is true……you do not escape the consequences. The fact that you don’t believe in the blind spot…….or that you don’t care enough about it to check it……..will not save you from the collision.

But driving tips are probably not what you came here for.

You may have guessed…….this blog is about hell.

You see, hell is the moral equivalent to your blind spot. It is a hazard that is right beside you. You encounter hell as the result of a conscious decision that you have made about how you are going to run your life. You can easily avoid hell if you plan ahead.

But.

If you deny its existence.
If you ignore it.
If you don’t give it any thought.
If you don’t plan ahead and take precautions.

Sooner or later you will encounter it…….probably not today. Just as when you drive, everything will be fine for thousands of lane changes. Everything will be fine….until it isn’t. And then it will be too late.

The lesson:

Ignoring or denying a reality does not save you from the consequences of that reality.

Hell is not real, you say?

No problem……keep changing lanes without checking that blind spot. Everything will be fine.

Until it isn’t.

The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

Jesus describing hell, Luke 16: 24-25, ESV

How many stars are there?
20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

How many planets?
Probably more.

How many chemical bonds are there in the genomes of all of the life forms on earth?
6,000,000,000,000,000,000

When was the big bang?
13,800,000,000 years ago

How big is the federal debt……today?
$30,000,000,000,000

Really big numbers. But in practical terms…..in terms of their application to our lives……..what do they mean?

The simple truth is that these numbers are so big that, from a practical perspective………we cannot comprehend them. In other words, we haven’t a clue as to how to react to them……how to use them to make decisions on a day to day basis in our lives. That is why the federal debt doesn’t seem to get any traction in terms of what we should do about it.

I call these numbers God numbers. The ultimate God number?……infinity. Infinity is such a large number that it doesn’t actually exist. Infinity, when you get down to it, is not real. It is a theoretical construct.

If you take an infinite number of monkeys, word processors, time, and paper………they will type the Encyclopedia Brittanica. This is a true statement……theoretically. But we both know that it will never happen…….that it is impossible. This is the problem when we use very large numbers……God numbers…….and try to build practical applications using them……..when we try to make practical daily decisions based on them.

And yet, very smart people try to do this every day. They draw conclusions from very big numbers and tell us how we should live:

With all of those stars and planets, there must be extraterrestrial life out there somewhere.

The federal debt hasn’t hurt us yet…….so we can let it grow.

With billions upon billions of years, there was enough time for the earth and all of its genomes to accumulate………purely by random accident.

With all of that time, life could begin out of non living material, begin to reproduce, and then morph onto Angelia Jolie.

With all of that time, we can explain our existence and the existence of the amazing ecosystem that we call earth on the basis of random accidents.

But how many accidents did it take?

1 with how many zeros? 100……1,000…..1 million

Remember, the accidents must be cumulative, they must be consecutive, and they must spread over the entire earth and run off their competitors. Furthermore, accidents that don’t improve the species don’t count.

This is the “science” that our teachers teach our children as fact. We accept it because we cannot comprehend the really big numbers that it is based on. We accept it because the scientists say it is so…….and they are much smarter than we are.

The problem is that we have allowed this “science” to push creation……and with it, the creator……out of the conversation. But, the entire scientific “house of cards” is built on numbers that are so big that we cannot comprehend them. Our eyes get glassy and we just accept it……..because the people selling it are much smarter than we are.

The trouble is that the scientists have no better practical understanding of these numbers than we do. In point of fact, the basic theory that this science is based on….Darwinian evolution…….was formulated before we even knew just how big these numbers are.

If you bet your future…….your eternity…….on the accident theory, you are gambling on an explanation that is built on numbers that none of us truly understand.

God numbers.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1, ESV

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.”

Genesis 1:11, ESV

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”

Genesis 1:20, ESV

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.”

Genesis 1:24, ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26, ESV

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Genesis 1:31, ESV

Stuff

We all accumulate it. Cindy and I are worse than most. We have interests, hobbies, and……worst of all…….collections. Stuff, in and of itself, is not bad. It can be useful, satisfying, even fun. I look through my piles of stuff and compare it to one of my best friends. He lives the “less is more” lifestyle. He is moving this week and can probably put all of his and his wife’s stuff in a small trailer. It would take me a moving van……..or two…….and a forklift. I once told my son, “you gave me a pretty hard time in your teens and twenties……..my revenge is that I will die……..and you will have to clean up this mess.” It was a joke…….but I noticed that he didn’t laugh.

Here’s the problem for me. I’m in my 70’s. Fairly soon, all of my stuff will belong to someone else. Even worse, most of it will belong to people I don’t even know and have never met. All of the stuff that I have spent a lifetime of work accumulating and caring for will no longer be connected……to me.

And then it occurred to me. In a deeper sense, my stuff never was truly connected to me. I have simply been a custodian…..no more…..no less. Much of it was here before I was born and will be here long after I am gone.

And so I am shifting gears. I no longer browse antique malls and tool shops looking for new and better stuff. I am even disposing of my collections. I will never get to the point of my friend……..but I will leave a smaller mess for my executor.

The lesson of the Bible……in regards to stuff…….is simple. Stuff is neither good nor bad. The secret to stuff is that we shouldn’t hold on to it too tightly. We should not let it define us. We should not allow it to dictate our value. Because our value is defined by something else.

Our value is defined exclusively by our relationship with our creator.

In a few short years, that will be the only metric that will count. So, if you are young…..if you are still in the “accumulation” phase of your life…….if you are still in the “empire building” phase…….my lesson is this:

Use your stuff, enjoy it…..but don’t hold on to it too tightly. Don’t make stuff the focus of your life, your efforts. And above all, don’t allow your stuff to define your value…..because you are worth far more than that.

Your relationship worth is far greater than your net worth.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy 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 and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus, Mathew 6:19-21

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Jesus,Matthew 6:25-26