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As I write this post about God burning it all up and my personal testimony on deliverance from idolatry, I first want to say that this is a personal message to and about myself. I have chosen to share this openly in the hopes that it might be a blessing to someone else. If this word doesn’t convict you or resonate with you, then it might not be a word for you. This might just be a word just for me and me alone.
2 Peter 3:10 says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
There will come a time when God burns it all up. Everything! I spent decades paying on a mortgage for a house that will be burned up. I spent too much of my lifetime collecting things. Every one of those things will be burned up. I invested time, energy, thought, emotion, work, sweat, tears, and money into buying things, collecting things, upgrading things, fixing the broken things, replacing things, cleaning things, dusting things that don’t even have enough worth to be used regularly, and just admiring my things. Family heirlooms that seemed to be free were anything but free. They come with mental, emotional, and negative spiritual taxes that I will talk about later.
As I watch God burn it all up. I will be standing there shoulder to shoulder with other believers who are also watching the greatest bonfire of all time unfold. As I look around at all the people there with me, I will realize that all along it was THEM that were the true treasures of my life on earth. I spent too much of my life collecting things when I should have been spending my life collecting people, nurturing relationships, loving, helping, and serving the people in my life.
Looking around at all the true treasures of my life standing there with me and watching the scene unfold, I will come to realize that there are people who aren’t there. People from my life will be missing at that time. I want me-now to receive a message from me-then. I want me-then to speak to me-now and tell me what changes I need to make in my life to make sure as many people are standing there with me as possible. I imagine that me-then will say to seek the true treasures in life and ignore the imposters.
I am reminded of a scene from Schindler’s List. For those that haven’t seen the movie: Schindler was a German businessman who bought Jews from the death camps to work his munition plant during the war. At the end of the war, the Jews that he saved were thanking him, and he came to a horrifying conclusion that he could have saved so many more. As much as he did, he was convinced that he should have done more. He looks at the ring on his hand and says that his ring could have saved one more life.
I suspect that me-then will also think that me-now should have done more. What things in my life are draining away my time, my energy, my focus, my money, my heart? What things in my life are turning my heart away from the things of God? Away from the true treasures of this life? What things are captivating my thoughts, my time, my focus, my energy, and my heart? How many of those things are godly? How many of those things are truly valuable? How many of those things will remain after 2 Peter 3:10?
In 2021, my husband and I sold the house we have lived in for over 20 years. My husband was completely in denial as to the volume of stuff we had so I knew that I would be having to lose some things that I thought were precious. I went into that move with the motto: I am a buttercup, and I am sucking it up. I sucked up more than I even imagined. I was throwing away things that seemed so precious. They had stories. They had memories. They had my heartstrings all wrapped around them so tightly that I couldn’t see them for what they really were… idols. I got rid of stuff that I thought would be in our family for generations to come, and I thought I would be grieving in the days and weeks to come.
Instead of grief, I experienced a freedom that I didn’t know was possible. It wasn’t until I escaped the prison of the idols in my life that I realized that I had been in prison. I couldn’t see the bars or the chains until I was free from them. How did I not see the prison bars? How did I not feel the weight of the chains until I felt the relief from the weight of the chains?
It is so frustrating now when I see others in those same jail cells because I want to tell them, to show them, but they can’t hear me… they can’t see where they are until they are out… or the Holy Spirit gives them a divine revelation. The deception is so thick that I wonder if I might still be chained to some things in my life that I can’t see. I know that it helps that I know the enemy’s tricks in this matter, that I am looking for signs, and that I am praying for wisdom in this area.
I want to live my life now in a way that I won’t regret the priorities I chose, the time I spent, or the energy I expelled when I am standing in 2 Peter 3:10. As I watch the destruction of all that isn’t important, I want to have as few regrets as possible. I want to be surrounded by as many people as possible. I want to know that I treasured the things of God above the things and the stuff.