Dear friends,
It was a rainy, cool week here. It was a nice change from those days when it was so hot. Now, I see some forecasters are predicting frost just around the corner. As I begin writing this week’s devotional, it is very foggy. I know there is supposed to be a connection between fog and future snowstorms. Time will tell. Currently there is a major hurricane to our southwest that may affect our weather in the next several days.
This past weekend was the annual Junk Jaunt event. For those who haven’t heard of it, it is the biggest garage sale you have ever seen. It covers a few hundred miles with stops in many small and large towns. People drive for miles to hopefully get a bargain or two, while others are selling excess “junk” from their garages and basements hoping to make a few extra bucks. I’m reminded of scriptures that tell us to get rid of things we don’t need.
These things aren’t all possessions we can see, like things we have stored away for some imaginary time when “we might need them”, but also thoughts and attitudes that affect our relationships with the Lord and with other people.
From a worldly point of view, much of the stuff we hang on to just takes up valuable space in our garages, basements and closets. When those are full of stuff, we build storage units. Now and then I will see that someone is selling something from their garage that they forgot they had. Apparently, they hadn’t needed it for some time.
The writer of Hebrews in the New Testament reminds his fellow Christians of this: Regarding all the saints who have gone on before us he writes, “There for, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Who runs a race carrying a load of unnecessary belongings? Get rid of all the extra stuff and concentrate on the finish line!
Look to Jesus,
Pastor Jerry
