Bumper Stickers
I enjoy the concept of bumper stickers. They convey the writer’s idea in as few words as possible. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, some clever, some shouldn’t be printed, and some make you think. I saw one many years ago that I still remember because of its thought-provoking truth: “He who dies with the most toys…still dies.”
The reminder was spawned by my pastor’s message yesterday from Luke 12 where Jesus responds to a man in the crowd who wanted Him to “tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Knowing what was in the man’s heart, Jesus answered his request with this warning in v.15, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”
Jesus then tells the parable
of the rich man whose land was very productive, and whose plan was to tear down his barns and build bigger ones with the thought that his goods would carry him many years into the future and he could “take his ease, eat, drink and be merry.” But none of us know the day God will call us out of the game. Jesus says that God called the man a fool because he would die “this very night” and then “who will own what you have prepared?”
In America, we’re told from the time we’re little that we can do and go and be anything we want. The rest of the thought is implied; if we work hard for it. That thought is generally true. But the main problem with it is that we tend to create idols out of our goals. A few verses further in Luke 12 we’re told bluntly, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (v.34).”
God will not allow us
to split our devotion between Him and our earthly desires. We simply cannot “serve two masters (Matt. 6:24).” When Ezra wrote the Chronicles (ca. 450-400 B.C.), he gave us the specs for those God was looking “throughout the earth to strongly support… those whose heart is completely His.” God doesn’t want split-hearted followers.
Where is your treasure? I don’t mean physically, like in the bank or CDs, or buried in the back yard. I’m talking emotionally. Charlton Heston made a statement which was from a totally different motivation than greed, but it’s how many feel about their treasures, “You can have my gun [or treasures] when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.”
We should imitate Corrie Ten Boom
who said, “Hold loosely to the things of this life, so that if God requires them of you, it will be easy to let them go.” How we treat our possessions is a “tell” on what’s going on in our heart. And you can’t hide it from God. (As an aside, when I was initially making notes to post this blog, I inadvertently wrote the word ‘positions’ instead of possessions. But as I think about it, positions can also become idols that we need to hold loosely.)
What will the bumper sticker on your hearse say about you?
- Yup goin’ up
- Can’t take it with ($$), sent it on ahead
- Trumpet faster than Devil, I B gone
- He chose narrow path
If you’re not sure
you could use any of the 4 above and you’d like to, click on Steps To Salvation and read what God has provided for ALL who turn to Him for the FREE GIFT of salvation. Thanks for reading.