Priorities
David Mainse, my son and I were cutting
a dead branch off an old maple tree down at David’s
farm a long time before he sold it. It was a cold day, and
the wood was later on to become the source of necessary
warmth, in both David’s farm house, and my house.
Wood makes the most comfortable heat I possible in my humble
opinion.
As we were cutting away with our noisy
chain saws, conversation was curtailed, but thought goes
on. I began to think about David, and his farm. And I must
say, the thoughts I had were quite entertaining. Here I
was getting wood from him.
A few weeks earlier, I had imposed myself
on him, and got a few bales of straw, or stubble (to use
the old biblical term) to use in my hen house. I also knew
for a fact that David had supplied the circle square ranch
with hay to feed the horses.
It suddenly dawned on me. David Mainse
was raising wood, hay and stubble!
Now whoa! Hold on! Before you race off
with negative thoughts about David, think about this for
a moment. Wood is an essential in many areas of life. Hay
is a primary ingredient for any livestock, and thus meat
and milk on your table. Straw has a thousand uses. Wood
hay and stubble are all essentials, both in New Testament
times, and in our day and age. There is nothing wrong with
wood, hay and stubble.
What can become wrong about wood hay and
stubble is the priority we put on them. Let’s read
1 Cor. 3:11-16:
“For no other foundation
can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work
will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because
it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each
one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s
work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a
reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer
loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that
the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
You see, Paul was not indicating that wood, hay and stubble
were worthless, he was simply saying that wood, hay and
stubble are strictly related to this physical life, and
have no eternal values.
What we put into the work of God, with
the right motives and the right attitude lasts into eternity.
That becomes gold, silver and precious stones. And David
certainly will have his share of that kind of reward. There
are some things that endure, even through fire.
When you have your priorities right, eternal
matters take precedence over the temporal and mundane. This
world, and all that is in it will pass away eventually.
But in the meantime, we need the wood, hay and stubble to
sustain life in the physical and earthy department of our
existence. It’s when we get the whole matter of temporal
and eternal out of balance, that wood hay and stubble become
inflammable. Luke 12:15:
“And He said to them, ‘Take
heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not
consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’”
In the final analysis, it’s not what you possess,
but what possesses you!
I’ve a feeling, if somehow in those
first few moments of eternity David has a chance, he will
look back and enjoy the bonfire.
