"Going Once..."

I went to an auction recently. It was a household auction, with lots of furniture, pots and pans, and tons of miscellaneous stuff. I spent $20.50, and came home with an iron that cost $70 brand new, an antique floor lamp that an experienced dealer said he could sell for $50, and a box of “junk” that contained copies of Look and Saturday Evening Post magazines from the early 1960’s. I think I did quite well.

There is an undercurrent of sadness at most "household" auctions. The surviving family watches as the bits and pieces of their childhood are sold to the highest bidders. Maybe they remember eating from a certain dish, or sleeping in an old bed, or how the nick in the antique dining table got there. There are usually some teary eyes when “mama’s” this or that is going, going, gone.

There are two aspects of an auction that are most striking to me.

The first is watching things that were purchased, sometimes at great price and with money earned through hard work, being carted off by someone who just paid a few cents on the dollar of the original purchase price. More than once I overheard people saying they had bought a box full of goods in order to get one particular item, and that they would sell, give, or throw away the rest of the stuff. Possessions that had once been highly valued were now disposable, sold for “give-away” prices.

The other aspect is the high value placed on certain other items. Some things that had been bought for very little money bring premium prices. Furniture that had been hand-made, or that had been purchased for its practical use is now “collectible”. A piece of glassware that had been bought for a few cents at a five-and-dime fetches a hundred or even a thousand times its original price. The bidding reflects how desirable items that had once been “everyday” have become.

And so it is in life. Some of the things we work hard to achieve and accomplish will, at the end of our days, be revealed as having very little lasting value. Indeed, much of it will be, according to the Scriptures, “burned up” and destroyed! At the same time, “common, ordinary” things we have done will be proven to be priceless in eternity.

Knowing how to tell the difference is the stumper, isn’t it? The Master provided us some clues during His life, including when He said, "I tell you the truth. What you did for even the smallest of these people you did for me. They are my brothers and sisters."

Ultimately, the lasting value of life won’t be determined by possessions, perks, or power. It will be measured by how we have treated the people – anyone we saw who had a need we could help with – that God brought into our world.

Our God Reigns

Someone passed along an awesome video clip that illustrates the "fierce grace" of our great God.

It's from a recent service at The People's Church in Franklin, TN. The clip is about 8 minutes long.

Listen to it here: http://www.fourthavenuechurchfamily.org/pc.wmv and be blessed!

The Necessity of Pain

6 year old Ashlyn Blocker literally feels no pain. Ashlyn is one of a handful of people in the world with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, or CIPA, an extremely rare genetic disorder that prevents her from sensing pain.

“You might think that’s a good thing,” says Ashlyn’s mother Tara, “But it’s not. Pain is there for a reason.”

We humans will do anything to avoid pain in life. In some Christian circles it’s become quite standard to teach, explicitly or by not so subtle inference, that “faithful” Christians are immune to or exempt from pain. Nothing could be further from the truth, or more injurious to our Walk.

In the first chapter of the book of James, we are told to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” And the Apostle Paul talked in 2nd Corinthians of being afflicted, persecuted, and “struck down”, but NOT being crushed or perplexed in the face of it all.

“Pain is there for a reason.”

Pain indicates that something is wrong in the body. Ashlyn’s parents live in fear that she will develop infections with no outward symptoms. Such illnesses could progress rapidly to the point of being deadly. Pain in our lives lets us know that something is going on that’s not quite right and needs attention, needs to be fixed.

Pain helps a person avoid unhealthy behaviors. When her baby teeth came in Ashlyn chewed her lips, tongue, and fingers until they were cut and bleeding. Her teachers have to put ice in Ashlyn’s chili at lunchtime – otherwise she will gulp down scalding hot food. Sometimes we have to experience pain in life to learn that some behaviors are hurtful and dangerous.

Pain helps the body heal. When the brain senses pain, it triggers the release of healing agents that rush to the injured area and begin the body’s natural healing process. Ashlyn’s childhood bumps, scrapes, and bruises sometimes take months to heal. With the realization of pain in life should come the understanding that healing also comes.

Pain causes a hurting person to seek help. An injured child will run crying to mom or dad. Ashlyn “is not phased by” pain, according to Tara. When she was 3 years old, Ashlyn severely burned her hand on a pressure washer. Tara found her staring impassively at her blistered palm, oblivious to the hurt. The pain of life should drive us back to the Father for help, comfort, and healing.

Ashlyn’s mom worries about not being able to explain CIPA to her daughter in a way she can understand. “There’s only so much you can tell her - If she sees blood, she knows to stop.”

That’s good news for all of us. The blood – shed by Jesus Christ as he suffered pain and injury for us – reminds us that God’s care and comfort are available for all who suffer from the pain of sinful lives. And the blood holds the promise of a life in glory, where there will be no more pain.