One day, a few years back, all the data on our website was suddenly lost. It was nowhere to be found and was never recovered.
We trusted in today's technology to preserve our valuables and, in a moment, they vanished. I was particularly disappointed because I had 75 or so blog posts saved to the site, which represented 150 hours or more of work...which was now down the drain. I guess in such an instance it's like the old Doris Day song, "Que Sera, Sera", which means, "Whatever will be, will be". Or, as I like to say, "It is what it is".
In situations like this, what should we do? Well, as we ought in all cases, we would be wise to take the opportunity to consult our Lord for His wisdom.
In Isaiah 40:8, we read, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever." Which means that, unless God has spoken and established a thing as eternal, then it will wither and it will fade away. Its usefulness, value, beauty, and even its life, will one day be gone. To the contrary, if He has constructed a thing to endure for eternity, it will endure. It cannot fail.
We have a stark contrast here, do we not? On the one hand, we have things that, though enticing for a moment, cannot survive. On the other hand, we have things that cannot perish and even more than that, the more we taste of them, the sweeter they become upon our lips (Psalm 119:103).
Now that we know this, what do we do with this knowledge? Well, let's apply it wisely. Here goes...
If we disproportionately commit our affections, energy and time to anything that is certain to fade, especially after we know the truth about it, what does that make us? It makes us fools, I think. The wise man instructs, by way of a somewhat graphic proverb that, "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." (Proverbs 26:11).
Dear Christian, don't be a fool! Do not keep investing into things that are destined to wither and to fade. Instead, invest in what cannot wither and what cannot fade. Invest your mind, your heart, and your time into the Word of our God because it is sure to stand forever! Invest your efforts and energies into whole-hearted obedience to those words.
Don't give yourself to this world and the way it is now...it was never meant to last!
Pastor Jeremy
