September 17, 2021
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The other day one of our team members shared a discovery she made during the remodeling of her kitchen. The counter top had been removed, and as she looked into this little 6"x8" drawer by the sink, she saw that it was completely stuffed - with like "stuff!" She realized that for 24 years she had been sticking things into that drawer: twist ties, rubber bands...you know, everything. There were some useful things in the back, but they were inaccessible because of all the "stuff." It had been a long time since the drawer had been opened very much; our friend just crammed things into it and occasionally pulled it open an inch or two to use something out of it. (I can relate to this.) But looking down on it all from above, she was surprised to see what was in there. Almost everything in that drawer could be thrown away, but it had been accumulating for years. And that drawer was much more useful now that it was emptied out.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stuffed With Junk."
You've got to wonder what God sees when He looks down on the contents of our life. The "top" is always off as far as His view of us is concerned. He sees directly into our heart, our motives, our every thought. And all too often, our life and our heart are cluttered with "stuff"...things we've filled our life with that are simply unnecessary to Him, useless to Him; always limiting our usefulness to Him.
Some of us won't realize how useless a lot of our life has been until it's too late to do anything about it; we'll wait until the Judgment Seat of Christ. Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 3, beginning with verse 11. It's our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones..." Wait a minute. That's filling our life with things that are going to last, that have eternal significance. He goes on to say, "wood, hay, or straw" - wait a minute. Those are things that are just "stuff." "...his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light...the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
You get one life. You can fill it with things that really matter or things that really don't. With things that will last forever, and often what this world stresses as being important is really just "stuff." And what Jesus says is important, our world thinks isn't much.
So when the Lord looks down inside your life, is it crammed with a lot of "stuff" that just doesn't mean much? A lot of time in front of a TV or computer screen, hours on the Internet, listening to music, talking on the phone, following sports, pouring yourself into causes and diversions that aren't going to matter much in eternity at all? It's not that these things are necessarily bad. The problem is when "stuff" that should be peripheral become central in your life. That's when it's time to reevaluate your priorities. It's time to see your life through God's eyes, and clean out what's not useful - the trivial pursuits.
When you do, you become so much more useful to your Lord. And the more you fall in love with Him, the less you're going to be stuffing your hours, your days, your mind and your heart with "stuff." You'll be about what Jesus is about. You'll be as He said, "seeking first the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33).