1 Timothy 6:9 – Hell's Claim on the Cheaply Sold Heart
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 1 Timothy 6:9, New King James Version
"Our stuff is going to end up in a junkyard," confronts Pastor Matthew Sink. He connects this to identity with the realization, " You and I are just middlemen," and then brings the point home with a disconcerting side with the equation, "junk = treasure + time."
All of this is true. All of this is unsettling to our system of assigning value. 1 Timothy 6:9 points to an even more frightening reality, that many men, many souls, could end up in Sink's junkyard. The apostle Paul has patiently traced this digression for his young charge, warning Timothy away from materialism and its entrancing power on the thoughts, then in its capacity to prepare us for traps, then in its tendency to fix in us habits of building and rebuilding what will be destroyed. There is hope and grace in each of these warnings.
The ultimate end of men giving their hearts to stuff, though, is the most sobering thought of all. Without taking an exit off that superhighway, Paul says the end thereof is perdition, Hell, the everlasting destruction of the self God granted so dearly and yet men sell so cheaply. As Tony Reinke reminds us in 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, "Idols petrify our souls."
Men can, in the final analysis, become so accustomed to chasing what we see, rejecting the way of faith, that he take that broad and easy way all the way to its ultimate destination. We reject the One Who says our value is in being made in His image for Satan's alternative, doomed, sham kingdom.
How often, Christian, do we preach to ourselves about perdition? The answer to that question might suggest the reason for the shallowness of our gratitude, the reason for the readiness of our distraction from the great Treasure Who is Christ in preference for lesser baubles. Confronting ourselves, brothers and sisters, with this constant and abrupt reevaluation reconsiders the decisions that flow from what, or Who, we really treasure in our hearts.
Being re-convinced of the supremacy of Christ over even the shiniest aspects of His Creation can rekindle our sincere evangelism. Headed for perdition, but for the active intervention of His grace and mercy, are we. We tell the world that is perishing, and therein are we reminded.
"Our stuff is going to end up in a junkyard," confronts Pastor Matthew Sink. He connects this to identity with the realization, " You and I are just middlemen," and then brings the point home with a disconcerting side with the equation, "junk = treasure + time."
All of this is true. All of this is unsettling to our system of assigning value. 1 Timothy 6:9 points to an even more frightening reality, that many men, many souls, could end up in Sink's junkyard. The apostle Paul has patiently traced this digression for his young charge, warning Timothy away from materialism and its entrancing power on the thoughts, then in its capacity to prepare us for traps, then in its tendency to fix in us habits of building and rebuilding what will be destroyed. There is hope and grace in each of these warnings.
The ultimate end of men giving their hearts to stuff, though, is the most sobering thought of all. Without taking an exit off that superhighway, Paul says the end thereof is perdition, Hell, the everlasting destruction of the self God granted so dearly and yet men sell so cheaply. As Tony Reinke reminds us in 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, "Idols petrify our souls."
Men can, in the final analysis, become so accustomed to chasing what we see, rejecting the way of faith, that he take that broad and easy way all the way to its ultimate destination. We reject the One Who says our value is in being made in His image for Satan's alternative, doomed, sham kingdom.
How often, Christian, do we preach to ourselves about perdition? The answer to that question might suggest the reason for the shallowness of our gratitude, the reason for the readiness of our distraction from the great Treasure Who is Christ in preference for lesser baubles. Confronting ourselves, brothers and sisters, with this constant and abrupt reevaluation reconsiders the decisions that flow from what, or Who, we really treasure in our hearts.
Being re-convinced of the supremacy of Christ over even the shiniest aspects of His Creation can rekindle our sincere evangelism. Headed for perdition, but for the active intervention of His grace and mercy, are we. We tell the world that is perishing, and therein are we reminded.
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