Treasure

Do you ever just kind of stumble around randomly, kind of looking for something but without any real sense of purpose?  I occasionally do that, especially online.  I'll be looking at something and then see an ad or link that looks kind of interesting, and off I go.  Sometimes that works out really well, and sometimes you can burn up a whole lot of time, with nothing to show for it. 

Recently I found a song that I really liked, one that I had never heard before and thought would be good to sing in worship.  In the course of trying to figure out how to download it so that we could play it I noticed that it had been viewed about 13,000 times.  And then, on the right side of the same page, I saw an ad that said it had been viewed 11 million times.  It was an ad called "How I make money online."   

The contrast in number of times these two different videos had been viewed struck me.  For every single time the song had been viewed, the ad had been seen about 840 times.  I know it is a kind of apples/oranges thing, as people stumble on a song, or perhaps seek it intentionally, while an ad is meant to be widely seen.  And even 11 million views in a nation of over 300 million is not really that large a segment of the population. 

But it is 11 million people with at least some measure of interest in finding an easier way of making a living, one that probably also includes not having to answer to a boss.  And on the other hand are 13 thousand people who quite likely are servants of one who can be described as the Boss of Bosses.  Thirteen thousand people whose value system is not driven by the way they support themselves, but by the One they serve as they live each day of their life. 

It isn’t quite an either/or proposition.  There is probably some crossover between the two, and if I could support my family through some sort of low time commitment online venture there might be some ways that would actually enhance the work I do in ministry. 

But there is one other way in which these two things, the song and the ad, make clear they are unequal in comparison to each other.  The one is for this age only.  Making money online is something that is designed to appeal to meeting my needs right now, and perhaps into the future until the end of this life, but certainly no farther. But the song, as it lifts up and gives praise to Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord, looks beyond this life, and into the life to come, where the blessings of having faith and serving Christ in this life will be shown to far outstrip absolutely anything else we could achieve or possess while earth is our home.   1 Peter 1:4 describes those eternal blessings this way:

"An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you."

There are the things of the this world, and this world only, and the things promised to all who have salvation in Christ.  Enjoy the one as they come your way, but treasure the reward that is in Christ and of infinitely greater value.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.