February 16, 2005

[Rev. Doc]

Too High A Price

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Matthew 16:26

Christian writer and speaker Max Lucado relates the following:

When we lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I went to visit a member of our church. He had been a strong leader in the congregation, but for several Sundays we didn't see or hear from him.

Friends told me he had inherited some money and was building a house. I found him at the construction site. He'd inherited three hundred dollars. With the money he'd purchased a tiny lot adjacent to a polluted swamp. The plot of land was the size of a garage. On it he was, by hand, constructing a one-room house. He gave me a tour of the project-it took about twenty seconds.

We sat in front and talked. I told him we'd missed him, that the church needed him back. He grew quiet and turned and looked at his house. When he turned again his eyes were moist.

"You're right, Max," he confessed. "I guess I just got too greedy."

Greedy? I wanted to say. You're building a hut in a swamp and you call it greed? But I didn't say anything because he was right. Greed is relative. Greed is not defined by what something costs; it is measured by what it costs you.

If anything costs you your faith or your family, the price is too high.

Prayer: Ask God to help you to see the high priority of your relationship with Him over what the world has to offer.

"Greed is the logical result of the belief that there is no life after death. We grab what we can while we can however we can and then hold on to it hard."
~Sir Fred Catherwood