Open Vault, Chained Pen

I was struck at the bank when I noticed the vault was open and unattended, yet I was filling out a deposit slip with a pen that was chained to the counter.

Doesn’t that seem ironic to you?

A friend of mine used to leave his new $45,000 car in his driveway because his $2,000 camper was taking up the garage space.

It seems to me that to protect something of little value while disregarding things that matter most is the epitome of foolishness.

Do you protect your work schedule but not your family calendar? Do you make dentist appointments but not dates with your spouse?

Do you put more money away for retirement than you do for eternity (Matthew 6:20)?

The saddest example of this is how we treat our eternal souls. Most of us care a lot about our health, and we should. We have gym memberships and are careful about the food we eat, minimizing sugar and processed foods. We make sure we get an annual physical and go through whatever tests the doctor orders.

But if you do better than everyone else and keep your body healthy for decades, you’re still going to die. And death is going to come sooner than you expect…no matter how positive the tests you get back now may indicate.

We take care of our bodies, but these bodies are very temporary.

What about your spiritual life? How well do you take care of that?

I know a guy who will not eat sugar. He says his grandpa lived to be 97, and he wants to beat that family record. I said, “That’d be great if you can live to be 98! But what then?” He didn’t know.

This is a short life. Everyone who has gone on before us would tell us so. What’s really going to matter is what comes after, because that’s for eternity. Where we are after this life will go on forever.

For some of you reading this, your first step is to secure your eternal life by trusting in Jesus. I’d point you to Romans 10:9 — “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (NLT).

If you’ve committed your life to following Jesus, then the question is, are you really following Him? Are you taking care of the spiritual life He’s given you? Or are you squandering it by focusing on temporary things instead of eternal? Here, Jesus’ words are apropos — “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33 NLT).

What pens are you keeping chained to the counter, while your eternal vault remains vulnerable?