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Lost in the human race

 

Most of the inspiration for my pieces comes from things that strike me particularly dead center in the week leading up to publication. This week, the topic was presented in passing – a mere statement squeezed into a conversation, but it resonated with me.

In speaking about the certain rat race that life has become in this culture, one of my peers mentioned how foolish it was that people place so much importance on something that “does not even have a two-year warranty,” when eternity is designed to be the focus.

That stuck with me, and presented itself recurrently throughout the remainder of the week. I had to buy a new tire after running over a nail and the employee explained to me the limited warranty that came with my new tire – something so essential to me in this life, yet so irrelevant in the grand scheme.

I recently caught a movie whose opening line made a similar observation.

“Look at us,” the narrator said. “Running around. Always rushed. Always late. Guess that’s why they called it the human race.”

When it is all said and done, however, Matthew, Jesus’ disciple, said it best. In a scripture that we have all surely heard and know, Matthew 6:19-20 says, “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.”

It is easy to get caught up in the shuffle to have the nicest things. Even the word “thing” itself evidences its meaninglessness, as defined, “an object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to.”

We get tripped up in the pursuit of items that are ultimately so insignificant that we need not even take the time to label them with specific names.

Why do we do this?

There are several possibilities, but the vast majority of them relate back to self – making myself look good, successful, fashionable or wealthy.

Here is when I pause to mention that having nice things is not at all wrong. I am not in the slightest suggesting that we should do away with all niceties and drive beat-up cars and live in shacks.

My concern is that the pursuit of those nice things gets in the way of everything else. Do we work our lives away for money and status that will not last?

I wonder if we put as much effort into evangelizing as we do into the pursuit of things, what the world would look like today?

 

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