Today we had a yard sale – the great American exercise in cleaning all the old stuff that we once loved out of our closets, and trying to sell it for a dollar or less. To tell the truth, it was pretty discouraging as one car of “shoppers” after another stopped, looked, and left. And it feels pretty weird to see that “must have” toy of two or three years ago going for 25 cents!
Of course, it reminds me of Jesus words:
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matt 6:19-21 (NLT)
How do you store up treasures in heaven? You can’t take it with you. And even the best stuff on earth is going to look pretty shabby in heaven!
The only earthly things I know of that we can send ahead to heaven are human souls. For whenever we share the love of Jesus with someone and they accept his forgiveness and become his disciples, the citizenship of heaven goes up by one – and even the angels rejoice!
Maybe you’re not comfortable explaining the gospel and inviting someone to follow Jesus. But you can let someone know that there are good things happening in your church, and invite them to join you some Sunday and see for themselves. When you do, we promise to welcome these guests as though they are the most important people on earth. Because they are. And we pray that God will use what happens in church that day to touch their hearts and help them fall in love with Jesus.
By the way, at the end of the day we gave up on selling the stuff. Instead, we put a “Free” sign on just about everything that was left. Within minutes a young couple came along and gleefully helped themselves to the whole pile! We couldn’t be more pleased.
I imagine that’s how God feels. He paid. We receive the free gift of eternal life. All we have to do is accept it. He couldn’t be more pleased.
And that’s the gospel in a nutshell!
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