Articles
What To Bring When You May Never Return
The above headline caught my eye. It was in reference to the Dixie fire in California that has now burned for 40+ days and consumed 725,000 acres. The headline poses the question of what you would take from your home in an emergency if you thought you may never see the rest of your belongings again.
The average person has a lot of valuables, from identification documents (birth certificates, passports, driver’s licenses, etc.) to monetary resources (credit cards, cash, insurance policies, investment portfolios, etc.) to sentimental items (pictures, gifts, life memorabilia, etc.). So much of our life information is stored on our computers, so maybe that is what we would grab first.
If you had to rebuild your life with only what you could carry in your arms (excluding family members), what would you need the most? (Of course, we’re cheating because this article gives us time to think.)
Perhaps the higher purpose of this exercise is to think less about what physical items are necessary and more about what is superfluous. I have soft and hard copies of nearly all the sermons, classes and articles I have ever produced. If I lost them all in a fire, what would I have left? Maybe the most important thing – the knowledge that through those media others were helped in their spiritual journey.
If my wedding pictures, ring and marriage certificate were burned, what would I have left? The most important thing – my wife. As to the things that can be replaced, I am confident that, if all were lost, we would receive from generous friends and brethren across the land what we would need to survive – food, clothing, shelter, etc.
But one thing that cannot be destroyed in a fire, and one thing that cannot be supplied by loved ones, is faith. Faith is not merely believing God exists; rather, it is trusting in Him and rejoicing in His love for us come what may. This is a powerful, confident, secure life – fire, flood, earthquake or persecution notwithstanding. Here is how Paul put it:
“We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body … But since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you …” (2 Cor 4:7-14).
When everything else is stripped away, whether by natural disaster or by enemies who take our possessions, freedoms and dignity; when evil seeks to humiliate, subdue and control us – the one thing that cannot be diminished is our faith in God and our Lord Jesus. THAT is all we need, for it is the key to the only future that really matters – eternal life in heaven.
