Parents, Don’t go for the cheap stuff. I took a semester off of college to work at the World’s Fair in New Orleans in 1984. I had some of the most delicious spicy foods I had ever had. I had up close encounters with movie stars, performers and leaders from around the world. I experienced cultures I never knew existed. It was a crazy time in my life, I was questioning everything. I arrived just before Mardi Gras and my first day of work was Ash Wednesday… and no one showed up at the office. Apparently everyone was recovering from their pre-Lenten celebrations. I noticed that not many people really gave up anything for Lent either… go figure! The longer I stayed in New Orleans, the more parades, parties and festivals I went to, the more of my faith and life’s treasured values I let fall by the wayside and I picked up cheap counterfeits. The parade krewes threw trinkety plastic doubloons, necklaces, cups, balls, and all kinds of cheap shiny stuff to the thrill of temporarily excessively happy parade goers and this image illustrated those 6 months of my life. At a certain point, it all became too much and I decided to return to college. Unfortunately, I continued to run from my faith for a few more years until God really got my attention and reminded me I was His child, but I had been chasing after things that His children don’t chase. I was building a life with the cheap, temporary and shiny stuff and experiences and giving up faith and relationships that were treasured, reliable, and true.
Apparently, there were some knuckleheads like me in the early church too, who had begun a relationship with Jesus, but had gone for the cheap, valueless and temporary instead of the solid, invaluable, and eternal… Paul reminded them that God’s grace and love for them was so great that He still wants to spend forever with them regardless of their unwise choices. But He also reminded them that when this planet is burned up and gone, they would survive, but they would be (to borrow a phrase) smellin’ like smoke, because all that was important to them had proved worthless and would be burned up. Paul says, “Anyone who builds on that foundation(of Jesus) may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.” 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (NLT2) So, when it comes to building our lives, we don’t need to go for the cheap stuff… I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be smellin’ like the smoke of cheap living for an eternity. So we gotta build our lives on the foundation of Jesus, and build true and strong loving relationships with Him and His people. We gotta love people, and bring them God’s Joy, apologize when we mess up and restore when we have torn down a relationship that’s valuable, good, and true…
Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for you all!
