Treasure and Trash Together
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Final Phase
Treasure and Trash Together
by J. Randal Matheny
In my email program, I have two kinds of folders.
The first are the automatic ones, like Inbox,
Sent, Drafts, Trash, and Junk Mail. These stay at
the top of the list. The second set I created, for
people, lists subscriptions, and ezines.
In that second set is a folder called aaineedthis,
for emails important to me. Perhaps a special
message dear to my heart. Or something I want to
read with some frequency. Hence, the "ineedthis"
part (I need this). I added the two "aa's" at the
beginning to place this folder at the top of the
alphabetical listing.
When I named that folder, a funny thing happened.
The last automatic folder is Junk Mail, where my
spam filter throws dubious messages. The first
created folder is aaaineedthis. So the two
folders, Junk Mail and aaineedthis, are neighbors,
one right below the other.
The content of each is drastically different.
Life is like my folders.
The junk and the treasures often lie side by side.
Trash is often thrown beneath -- or on top of --
the treasure. Next door to the church building may
operate the strip joint or the alcoholic's bar. On
the bookshelf a commentary faithful to the text
may stand next to a work marred by skepticism and
faulty scholarship.
The catch is knowing the difference. Because in
real life, the junk may be named treasure and the
worthy may be called trash. (This is not a new
problem, says Isaiah 5:20-21.)
So Scripture tells us to watch out, to discern
between what's good and what's bad.
"... test everything; hold fast to what is good;
abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thessalonians
5:21-22, NRSV).
"... weigh what is said" (1 Corinthians 14:29).
"A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a
fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth"
(Proverbs 17:24, NIV).
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free" (John 8:32).
Let's make sure our junk file doesn't hold
something precious. And that our "aaineedthis"
file, or whatever you may name it, doesn't harbor
trash.
For our freedom depends on it.
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