Does It Have Eternal Value, or is it Junk?

I remember years ago, at the company I used to work for, there were some internal changes being made, which required several of my co-workers to pack up their offices and relocate to new locations in the building. One morning, while en route to my office, I stopped to greet a

colleague that was part of that reassignment. As he sat in the middle of boxes and debris, he would say something that would later cause a deeper reflection in my own life. He said, “Isn’t it funny that as soon as we place things that we perceive as value in cardboard boxes, it suddenly looks like junk?” I didn’t think much about it until later, when I realized how profound the statement was.

Sometimes it’s all about perspective. The things we inadvertently place value on in our lives could really just look like stored up junk from God’s perspective, the things that could be causing “contingencies” in our dependence upon God.

I began to look introspectively at what things in my life I place importance on. I began to be convicted! There were areas of my life where my dependency and self-worth came more from earthly achievements, than my willingness to receive the things of eternal value. Paul figured this out in Phil. 3:7-11. He states in vs. 7,8 that, “But whatever was to be 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 Jesus my Lord.”

There is an immeasurable exchange going on here. The more we give up, the more we receive from Him. So how do we get more of God’s perspective in our life, and less of our own? Prayer is the perfect start. Ask God to reveal those things in your life that you need to relinquish control over. Believe me, He’ll show you. Next, begin placing more value in things that will teach you more reliance on God, the value of worship as a lifestyle, the value of fellowship with other believers that can speak into your life and encourage you and the meditation of God’s word to feed and empower you daily.

Sometimes, we need to be forced out of the box. Often our perceived reality is nothing more than our own world of existence. God wants so much more for us. He promises to replace our “Junk” for eternal things of much more value.

Pastor Greg Quirke