Take care in throwing things out

We pick up trash along U.S. 54 about twice a year and, every once in a while, we find something of potential value and put into a separate bucket with recyclable plastics, cans, bottles, etc., for further inspection after the picking up is done (we also carry a trash bag). You know, one man’s garbage is another man’s gold; or, sometimes people get in a hurry and unintentionally throw out valuables. I found a nice, full toolbox at an illegal roadside garbage dump once while walking home from school.

Anyway, during the most recent trash pick-up on U.S. 54, I thought I’d struck gold again, relatively speaking, when I found a nice work glove shortly after starting our half-mile long pick-up area. So I threw it into the recyclable bucket, hoping the mate might not be far away. A short time later, after having piled several recyclables in the bucket, I found another, similar-looking glove and put it into the bucket. I was eager to sort through that bucket to see whether I had actually found a treasure. Upon inspection, it turned out, although both gloves were very nice, they didn’t match, and they both were for the left hand. So into the trash they went because there was little hope either of their mates ever would be found.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 states there’s a time for every activity under the sun, including keeping and throwing away and searching and giving up a search. There are some things we’re always to keep and others we’re always to throw out, but there’s still a balance between the two. For example, we’re to test everything, hanging on to the good and throwing out the evil (1Thessalonians 5:21-22; Proverbs 23:23; 2 Timothy 2:20-21). Hope is a specific thing we’re to hold on to, as long as it’s based in the truth — the faith (Hebrews 10:23; 11:1-2; 2 Corinthians 4:18-18; 5:1-7; Romans 5:1-5).

Avoiding evil and keeping the faith is, then, the means by which we take hold of the eternal life (salvation) that’s safely stored for us in heaven where it can never be spoiled (1 Timothy 6:11-12; 1 Peter 1:3-5). When Jesus comes back to reveal our salvation, he’ll separate the saved from the lost like separating good grain from weeds or sheep from goats — the former of which in both cases will be kept for salvation and the latter of which will be thrown into the fire (Hebrews 9:27-28; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, 47-50; 25:1-46).

Will Jesus keep you or throw you out? To be kept, we must keep the faith until death, holding on to the good and avoiding the evil (Revelation 2:10; 1:5-9). Faith is demonstrated by obedience without which there’s no salvation (Acts 6:7; James 2:17, 26; Romans 8:9-11; Galatians 5:24-25; Romans 6:3-5; Acts 2:38-39). Salvation is the greatest treasure anyone can find, but we only have this life to find it (Matthew 13:44-46; Acts 17:26-27; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2). So don’t throw away your only opportunity to find salvation!

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]