July 2, 2020 – Click here to listen
I have an arrowhead that I found in a field near Honey Lake that is really beautiful. It has a dark purple streak that runs the length of it and is light mauve on one side and light maroon on the other. I’ve imagined that a chief might have owned it and I would guess that it was one of his prized possessions.
But look who has it now . . .
I accomplished quite a lot in my lifetime. I’ve built companies, buildings, a beautiful resort sitting on 5000 acres, written books and so forth. And yet like the beautiful arrowhead I found, as time moves on it will all be buried and forgotten.
I became a Christian by reading the Bible. Before becoming a Jesus follower,
I was antisocial. When I became a baby Christian that condition did not easily go away. I knew nothing about the Bible but what I’d gleaned from reading it. I always wished I could have a mentor who could teach me how to live my life in a manner that would be pleasing to God, but I had such low self-esteem and difficulty communicating with people I could not bring myself to ask for help.
So I just kept reading and rereading the Bible. I was engaging in my Bible study one day and I’d just finished reading Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. I discovered that it was written by King Solomon and had read where God blessed him with so much wisdom that it declared he was the wisest man who had ever lived or would live. Further he had more wealth than anyone of his time.
Ping! I thought here would be the perfect mentor and best of all he was available 24/7. All I had to do was pick up my Bible and absorb all that wisdom. So I read Proverbs so many times I almost memorized it and Ecclesiastes wasn’t far behind.
So my wife and I decided to go to Israel for a tour, and I rushed out and bought thousands of dollars of photography equipment. I wanted to photograph all that King Solomon had built. The Bible spoke of his vineyards, palaces, stables, and projects of every description. The ordinary people of that day shared in his glory and it is said that ordinary plates were made of solid silver in the days that he ruled. I was going to record it all with my new cameras and lenses.
When I got over there the only thing left from Solomon’s era was some vine covered rubble with an occasional column left standing here and there. One of the most magnificent wonders of the world that he built, the temple, no longer stood. At the time it was built the Jewish people thought it would stand forever. As I contemplated this, I realized that everything I’d built would have a similar fate. Then I thought about how much time and energy I’d put into building my career and a worldly kingdom and how little time in comparison that I’d spent working towards the only thing that would last beyond the grave, working for God’s kingdom.
I imagine that the Indian who owned that arrowhead showed it to all of his friends with great pride. I’ve done the same with it, but recently promised it to one of my son’s closest friends from early childhood. He will enjoy it and dream about the original craftsman who made it and wonder what he looked like and if it was actually used in combat, hunting, or was ceremonial. The Lord only knows where it will be in a couple of hundred years.
This lesson in life put everything in perspective for me and I hope for you. Nothing in this world is lasting apart from the things we do to glorify the name of Jesus. Someone has wisely said, The most important things in life are not things – Live, Laugh and Love. Well said! All the things we have will one day belong to someone else and eventually will end up in rubble. So we might ask, why spend all that time, energy, stress, and anxiety worrying about material things that disappear like the morning fog? Focus on God . . .
2 Corinthians 4:18
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”