Treasure vs Junk

If you are in the midst of a move or if you have moved in the past, you realize like my husband and I have that you have a bunch of junk you have collected over the years.  Even with our sons married and out of the house, we are still carrying their “treasures” around with us.  Although I have not had time to go through the boxes and unpack fully because of family health issues, I have discovered a few treasures and a bunch of junk in the boxes.

Some of the boxes that have been opened, my husband and I both look at each other and comment, “Attic.”  I have opened at few boxes, make an assessment of the contents, then close them back up and write “Goodwill” on the lid.  Yep, it is junk to me but it might be a treasure to someone else.  However, a couple of boxes have held some precious treasures. 

I opened a box and discovered some loose photos.  Snap shots of lost teeth, first baseball trophy, or a shot of the boys with their pals-treasures.  Also, among the photos were little cards the boys made in school for me for Mother’s Day and pictures they had created-treasures.  Looking at all of those items made me smile and brought back so many sweet memories.

I wonder what kind of treasures or junk we are collecting for the Lord.  We think that if we work hard in the church we will earn brownie points.  Mission trips surely earn favor from the Lord.  As a minister’s wife, we should certainly please the Lord because we are “serving” Him.  Oh yeah, let’s don’t forget about nursery duty.  Now, that is worth a lot of points in heaven.

Well somehow I don’t think God will accept our efforts as worthy.  Sure, we do work hard for the kingdom but do we always do it for the right reasons?  For example, I sometime begrudge having to attend another meeting or take my time in the nursery.  My attitude stinks when I dread serving and as a result I am storing away junk for the Lord.

In order for us to have treasures for the Lord, our attitudes must be right.  We can evangelize all day along but if our heart is not right our efforts become junk.  We can claim to love someone but have a falling out with a family member and everything we have done becomes junk.

I learned a long time ago that I can do all these neat things for the Lord but have a stinky attitude that causes all the good to be thrown in the junk pile.  It is my prayer that when God welcomes me to heaven and looks at the “gifts” I bring that He will “oo and aww” over them like they are priceless treasures.  Isn’t the most priceless treasure a soul added to God’s kingdom?