What's He Worth to You?

Every once in a while adults feel the need to really clean the house. Much thought is put into what should be kept and what should be thrown out. And then there is almost always a yard sale for the unwanted items that are just too good to throw away.
Recently that whole scenario was played out at my house. My wife made quick work of a few closets upstairs and pointed to several boxes that needed to be taken out to be sold at the yard sale.
"Just put them in the garage, and I'll get them ready to sell," she said rather nonchalantly.
While she is a precious and wonderful bride, she is a terrible actress, and her casual way of instructing me to take the boxes out caused me to become suspicious.
"What's in the boxes that she does not want me to discover?" I mused to myself.
She noticed my suspicion and quickly said, "If you don't have anything else to do, I could think of a few..."
Sensing the ultimatum, I wisely chose to carry the boxes downstairs to the garage.
When I was alone with the boxes, I opened one of them and rummaged through the contents. Overall, I was pleased to see the items in the box on their way out. On the bottom, however, was my green sweatshirt I have had since college. Fifteen years that sweatshirt accompanied me through football seasons and work bees, mission trips, and vacations. Clearly, it had seen better days, but that was exactly the point. It had been with me as a faithful friend through the best and worst of times.
"Why would she hide this at the bottom of the box?" I wondered. It was a conspiracy. What was extremely valuable to me was seen as trash to be discarded by my wife. I was keeping this and was willing to fight for it. I took the price tag off the sweatshirt and stomped back into the house ready for war.
Sad to say, I lost the battle for the sweatshirt. It seems that my love for my wife is greater than my love for a dingy, old, worn-out sweatshirt. My reaction shows, though, that what we value is extremely personal. The stories, experiences, and memories of our lives are all tied up in simple symbols, and some of those symbols are as old as an old sweatshirt. Kneeling in prayer may seem old-fashioned and out of place to some today, but why? Returning tithe and giving to the work of the church might seem like less of a priority to many today than it did 100 years ago. Why? Listening to a preacher teach from God's Word may seem almost irrelevant to people in our fast-paced world. Why would that be? What happens to us that makes it hard to worship our God?—Pastor Troy.