Impressive Garden

1 Timothy 6:6-8

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Our reading today is from 1 Timothy Chapter 6 verses 6 through 8,

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:6-8)

The day that my mom passed away, I had just come back to my family’s house from the hospital. Earlier that day, my mom had spent a little bit of time wondering where she got a piece of Tupperware that was sitting on the counter. Someone had brought her some food at one point, and this Tupperware was sitting there and she couldn’t remember who it belonged to. And so she kept asking my father and he didn’t know either. Well, later on that day, my mom had a heart attack and ended up dying very unexpectedly. And that night, coming back from the hospital, my eyes were all still full of tears. I came into the kitchen door and I looked on the counter and here was this stupid piece of Tupperware. This piece of plastic sitting there. And part of me wanted to just take it and throw it across the room.

But I started thinking to myself, think of the things in my life that can demand my time and attention that really, in the end, are so meaningless. Now, my mother was a wonderful Christian woman who loved her Savior and loved God’s Word. That very night that she passed away, we had a nice family devotion. But at the same time, that piece of Tupperware to me made me think about how easy it is for me to let the stuff that we have in this life and the things that we can get be so important to us and sometimes consume our time.

In the text in front of us. God would have us develop a heavenly perspective, a heavenly way of looking at all of the things he gives us in this life and how we use those things, as well as the time that we have in life. So God would have us, as believers in Christ, view our lives from the perspective of eternity. There are a lot of important things for us to do in life, especially as parents, when our children are little. There’s so many things that can demand our time and attention, and it all matters in some way, shape, or form. And yet we also recognize that up and above all of those things of earthly life are the most important matters. That of our spiritual lives and making sure that we love our Savior and take time for his Word.

If your child’s batting average means more to you than making sure that they know who their Savior is, maybe it’s time to take a little bit different look and perspective on our lives. Years ago when I was serving a church, there was a man in the neighborhood who had a beautiful yard, gorgeous shrubs and flowers, and he was out there working on it all the time. I happen to know his wife and it frustrated her that he never wanted to go to church. And I used to think I wonder what it will be like for him on Judgment Day, talking to God about how he used his life and his time and the blessings God had given him. Maybe trying to impress God with his shrubs, trying to impress God with his flowers.

Think how meaningless everything is going to seem on that final day if we don’t really have faith in our hearts and Christ Jesus. Saint Paul talks about what God has prepared for us through the work of his Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world not to give us better things in this life, although there are great blessings being a Christian in this life, but to get us out of this life, to get us out of our graves, ultimately to the perfect home that he has won for us in heaven. And what a blessing that he’s given us the gift of faith. That through faith in Christ who forgives even our materialism inside of us, this wonderful faith that we have will take us someday, on Judgment Day, through the gates of heaven to live eternally with our Lord.

So Saint Paul says to us, again, godliness with contentment is great gain. May God teach us to be content with the blessings we have in this life and to always view them from the eternal life he’s given us freely through our Savior. Amen.