All Gone

by | Jan 24, 2025 | Vital Men Devotions

Earlier this month, my brother sent me a photo that answered a question we were wondering.  My Uncle’s home of nearly 60 years in Pacific Palisades was now a pile of ashes, as were all but a couple of his neighbors’ homes.  I had visited him several times over the past couple decades and even brought my dad to visit for the first time in over 40 years as well.  I jogged through the neighborhoods and ate at restaurants that are now gone.  Aside from my Uncle, I didn’t have many close ties to the place, but I do feel for the hundreds of families that are now displaced or homeless. We don’t have the same threat of wildfires here in Iowa, but we do have communities devastated by floods and tornadoes at times.  Regardless of the source, it does serve as a reminder of how temporary our lives are, and the things in them.  If you had 30 minutes to grab what you could from your home, before it was gone, what would you take with you?  

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24

We often don’t appreciate what we have until its gone.  I remember visiting my grandfather’s homes throughout my childhood and all the things I recall that remind me of them.  About the only thing that remains from those times is a small secretary desk that my dad bought at the household auction we had after my grandfather passed away when I was in High School.  Photos and videos may remind us of events and people who have come and gone.  What difference do these things make in our lives now?  They help remind us of where we come from, and what we have been through.  We can use them to share stories and teach our children lessons on what to do and not do in life.  We can put the puzzle pieces together to start to better see how God has been involved in forming our character as well.  When you look back on your life, what things have been most influential to you?

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:19-21

What lasts forever?  There may be some remnants of castles and of Roman roads and ruins that remind us of what once was great.  We have books and stories that remain popular from generation to generation, but most big and insignificant things that happened centuries or even decades ago are mostly forgotten.  The impact and relationships we have with other people and the influence of God in our lives are some of the only things that tend to last beyond our own lives.  When we benefit from what others have done, or what God has done in our lives, we often don’t even recognize it.  May you wake up each day with a greater gratitude for the blessings and privileges we take for granted, and find ways to bless others throughout your days, weather they recognize it comes from you or not.  Find ways to be more like Christ in both practice and presence.  As the rest of the world passes away around us, let us hold to the one thing that lasts!

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 2 Peter 2:10

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Yours in Christ,
Clark

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