Priorities for Moving Day
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
This week we helped our newly married son and his wife move into their first apartment together.
It was a fun and exciting time for them to be able to set up house together for the first time. There were all sorts of fun things to unpack. Wedding presents to unbox. Decisions to be made for furniture placement. Deciding what drawers to put things in and who gets what side of the closet.
It was fun to watch and help them in the process. No doubt as time goes on adjustments will be made and things will be moved around.
During moving day I paused to reflect on all the stuff one accumulates over time.
I frankly don’t much care for moving because you have to come to grips with all that stuff. You quickly discover that some of that stuff is really not as important as you thought it was and it quickly is donated.
Moving day many times changes your priorities.
You realize that you can really get by with much less stuff.
There is an amazing moving day that is coming one day. It is a day that Paul wrote about in I Corinthians 15:51-52.
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
That is a real moving day. It is a day where none of this world’s stuff is loaded into a moving van and taking to a new destination. Instead it is all left behind and a new day and place is our home. Everyone’s priorities are changed.
Frankly as we think about that moving day, it changes our priorities today. It is not just at that moment that our priorities are changed. It begins now.
Jesus wrote about those changing priorities in this life when he said in the gospel of Matthew 6:19-21:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Moving into new homes or apartments is fun, tiring and represents new beginnings and many times priorities are adjusted as a result.
Moving into heaven adjusts our priorities in this life right now and moving towards heaven and it’s new beginnings will certainly move us to lean on Jesus as He helps us rid ourselves of unnecessary stuff. May God bless you as you move towards heaven and make heavenly priorities your life goal.