New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle.

Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida.  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value?

We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value?

Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent.

I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it. 

The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for metallic items of value that were lost or inadvertently left behind.  As far as valuing the beauty of the beach, well I doubt that was very much on his mind since I didn’t see him keep the things that he dug up that had no value to him.

As I watched both, I started thinking about what we value or treasure.  The Bible cuts to the heart of things on this topic!

Where our treasure is, there will be our heart also (Matthew 6:21).

Things of great value need to be pursued above all else (Matthew 13:46).

When we pursue things of eternal value, a lot of other things fall into place (Matthew 6:33).

Sometimes things of lesser value (or no real value) can consume us (1 John 2:15-16).

As I look at a new year, I think it would be good for me to re-evaluate what I treasure.  If I’m honest with myself, sometimes trash is what I end up treasuring instead of treasure that has eternal value!