Guard Your Valuables

 

GUARD YOUR VALUABLES

By:  Julie Souza Bradley Lilly

“Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” – 2 Timothy‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A while ago I had a disturbing conversation with a man who had been raised in church from the day he was born.  When the topic came around to salvation, I was shocked when he said, “I have heard about Jesus dying on the cross so many times, that I am getting tired of it.  It’s cheesy.”  

Hearing that turned my stomach. How do we go from tearful gratefulness at the foot of the cross, to viewing the cross with contempt?

If we are careless in guarding our perception of the value of our blessings, something precious can begin to be seen as commonplace and eventually contemptible.  It is an often unrecognized tactic of the enemy to steal our blessings (John 10:10).  By introducing the temptation of “new,” he attempts to plant seeds of discontentment, complacency and familiarity that can mature into contempt.  

Once our blessings are no longer viewed as blessings, but something worthless to discard, our treasures become easy pickings for the enemy.  He is saved the trouble of breaking in to steal, when he can simply stroll down our sidewalk and pick treasure from our trash. 

Is the enemy beginning to steal your valuables, Beloved?  There are signs, you know. When we begin to judge our brother, it is clear indication that we have forgotten the magnitude of our brokenness—dare I say our wretchedness— when we were found by Christ. And it is a short step from minimizing our sin to minimizing our salvation.

Father, send Your Holy Spirit to reveal any complacency that is attempting to devalue our treasure.  Restore the joy of Your salvation, and (Ps 51:12) breathe fire into our vigilance to guard our valuables, so the enemy has no foothold to pick us clean when our head is turned.

Father, we don’t want to become unwitting victims of the enemy. May we turn our critical eye from the speck in our brother’s eye to remove the log in our own, so we can rediscover not only the joy of our salvation, but a heart of compassion to lead our brother home.  In Jesus’ Name ❤️  

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