What Are You Throwing Away?

I am amazed at what some people want to chuck out. It was probably a good thing that I was driving my school bus or I may have been tempted to stop and ask, “Are you really throwing out that old snow-blower? What’s wrong with it?”
Warm spring weather brings us out of hibernation. We unfasten the back shed, air out the basement and open wide the garage doors. I am no different but it still amazes me that we leave our $35,000 vehicle in the driveway and store $300 worth of stuff in the garage. Then as the sunlight filters through the dust, we realize it’s time for a spring cleanup.
Trying to bring order out of chaos, one pile is a must keep. Another mound is designated for a yard sale. The last and growing mountain is destined for Big Garbage Day.
Big Garbage Day finds almost everything, including the kitchen sink, alongside the curb. The former owners hope the garbage trucks pick up their discards before scavengers root through what they consider trash and useless. Yeah I know, most of the stuff is broken, torn, dented or not working but the old adage is true, your junk may be someone else’s treasure.
You can probably remember some of the items your grandparents had around their homes. They may not compare with todays high tech gadgetry but they lasted forever. Nothing was thrown away and most things were recycled several times over. Yet today, we live in a throw away society where durability and expensive repairs don’t warrant keeping a product, the thing to do is fire it into the dump.
This throw away mentality pervading our Western culture seeps into other facets of our lives beyond the accumulation found in the garage. Our country is strewn with emotional and societal landfills.There are some who throw out their morality for the sake of political correctness. Their once held convictions are now perceived as outdated and not worth holding on to. Others discard relationships, both marital and family, as one would throw out an oily car rag. They are fed up, unsatisfied or just want to trade up for a better, prettier, sexier partner or they farm out the children who give them a headache. Some think the elderly and infirm are worthless; a burden on our fragile economy. They lobby for the fictional right to euthanize such medical and economic burdens. “Lets get rid of them, they are slowing us down.” Some treat life as useless trash and throw it out under the name of convenience. I am amazed at what some people toss aside as trash. “It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)
Maybe you feel like the one who has been tossed aside. Your life’s situation has thrown you against the rocks and you feel assaulted and broken, the brunt of someone’s discard waiting on the curb for the next pickup. I want to let you know, you are nobody’s junk and you are highly treasured. While we were dying in our pain this is what God did: “Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he [God] embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” (Ephesians 2:4-6)
I want to let you know, it is not Big Garbage Day. It’s Restoration Day: God loves you and wants everyone to know it!