Sold!

The thrill of a live auction is an interesting thing, especially for a person who has never experienced it.  Kirby and I went to our first auction last night, and I was immediately swept away into the excitement of it all.  The auctioneer talks a mile a minute, people are calling out and waving hands, the adrenaline is pumping, and everyone is greatly anticipating a grand prize.  I went to simply be a spectator, but it didn't take me long to start throwing my hand in the air, eager for a good deal.

In the middle of all the fanfare and fun, I took a look around me and realized how depressing the event actually was.  Before the auction began, the auctioneer let everyone know where the items came from.  An elderly man had been put into a "retirement" home, and the family had emptied out his house and put it all up for bids.  As items were selling for two and three dollars, I realized that this was someone's life.  This man's story was being sold by the box for a pitiful amount of money... jewelry that had been personally engraved, family photos, gifts, collectibles, hobbies... all tossed into a box and discarded as trash.

As I came home and began to look around my own house, I realized how temporary all of the things in this life are.  The things that we pour our money and our time into will one day be thrown into a box and tossed aside as garbage.  The things we treasure and hold dear to our hearts will be worthless.  Why, then, do we spend our lives so desperately seeking to obtain more and more junk?  Why not work for a higher cause, focusing on the things of eternal value?  When my life is boxed up and passed along to someone else, I hope and pray that the life others see in my material possessions is a life that reflects Christ in every possible way.


As I prayed over this, I really had to question what I live for.  I say with my mouth that I live for Him and that everything is about Him, but is that evident through the way I'm living my life?  Do I demonstrate this through how I spend my time and my money?  God's Word reminds us of how temporary this world is, and how unimportant material things are. As I continue through this week, working and rushing and longing for things, I hope these verses will stay with me, reminding me of what matters most...

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

-Matthew 6:19-21

"For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it."

-I Timothy 6:7

"Do not love the world or anything in the world..."

-I John 2:15

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

-I John 2:17