It's Rubbish!

Philippians 3:7-8 – But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (NIV)

One recent night, I couldn't sleep, and as I lay awake praying, this thought came to me: the kingdom of heaven is like a recycling depot, with three bins! Yes, Lord, I know You used ordinary incidents in Your parables, but a recycling depot?

The first bin was labelled Garbage and it held all my belongings. The attendant crushed them! The second bin was full of magazines, newspapers, and books. I wondered if that was what happened to my books, which took years to write. I watched, saddened, for the inevitable. But the attendant looked in carefully and grasped a book entitled After It's All Over. As he put it in the third bin, called Valuable, and crushed the rest, I wondered why it was important! Then the third bin's contents met the same fate, but as they were crushed, the bin's label changed to Eternal Life.

If you have ears to hear, did you get it?

Jesus' parables must have confounded his listeners, even though they were all taken from ordinary incidents, as was the recycling depot. Still, it must have been hard for many to get the point. What kind of ears are needed, what kind of reflective listening is involved to understand Jesus? How does one develop spiritual ears? Surely, the spiritual meaning hidden in the recycling depot "story" is obvious: the only part of our lives that is valuable is what we do for Christ, and that is very small. All the rest is rubbish, as Paul said. Ouch, that hurts! Is all of it Garbage?

Much of the modern world seems deaf to the spiritual lessons learned in this short life. Nothing we have now is going with us into eternity. Only what we share out of love for Christ and one another will last.

Paul also points out that one of the gifts of the Spirit of Christ in us is insight into the things of God. "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ." (Philippians 1:9-10 NIV)

Today, as we hear God's voice, let us invite the Spirit to dwell within us, helping us to cherish only those truths that Jesus taught. There is no real glory in the material things around us or in our accomplishments — they are all nothing but rubbish, just shadows of the real thing in heaven. Christ in us is our true hope of glory — through loving and serving Him.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we humbly admit that we have been placing our hope for a better life in these material things all around us and in our own accomplishments, instead of in serving You. Open our eyes to see the real value of this world's goods: rubbish fit only for the eternal garbage bin. In Your Spirit, let us hear again how we can truly serve You by loving those in need and by sharing all we have. Open our ears to the inner voice of Your Spirit, so that we can understand what You want us to do today. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

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