By: Obed Pineda
It has been said that when purchasing a brand new, unused vehicle from the dealership, the moment you drive it off the lot the car loses value. Perhaps the reasoning for this concept is that the car’s label is immediately switched from “new” to “used” once it has been driven home. Because the vehicle will never revert to being unused, it’s worth depreciates from its original value. Furthermore, if the vehicle is not properly cared for, suffers many damages, or is involved in many accidents the quality of the car drops tremendously eventually making it worthless. On the other hand, if the owner takes good care of the vehicle and is never involved in an accident, the vehicle will keep most of its value, regardless of it being a used car. Thus, one thing that can be surmised from this example is that the value of a vehicle depends greatly on how well the owner uses it. The excellent or poor quality of the used car also reflects how grateful or ungrateful the proprietor of the vehicle is. There is very little doubt that a person who is just and recognizes the amount of work and effort that was involved in obtaining such a blessing will be more cautious with the automobile. However, it would be unwise not to mention that there is a such thing as being too protective of the auto as well. This level of attention to an inanimate object may not depreciate the monetary price of the vehicle in the eyes of man, but it does astoundingly depreciate the value of the blessing in the eyes of God. As he pinpoints what kindled the righteous wrath of God against mankind in ancient times, the apostle to the Gentiles wrote by inspiration, “although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened…who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 1:21, 25). It is unquestionable that God is this world’s Creator and that He gave it to man as a blessing for him to thrive by it (cf. Psalm 8:3-9, Acts 14:15-17). Yet, it is a tragic truth that man has grossly diluted heaven’s precious gift by transforming it into his god. One must comprehend that idolatry is much more than just literally bowing down or paying homage to an object. Scripture reveals that idolatry is identified by anything or anyone who “sits as in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2nd Thessalonians 2:4). Moses corroborates this description by warning, “take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them” (Deuteronomy 11:16). An examination of the whole context of Moses’ warning to the children of Israel will reveal that this was preceded by Jehovah God’s confirmation that they were about to take possession of the land He had promised them, and thus Moses was urging them not to contaminate God’s blessing by allowing it to turn them away from God. This was not the first, nor only, time Moses had exhorted Israel against this attitude of ungratefulness. Previously the Lord warned them through Moses, “beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). God often reminded the Israelites that He had given (i.e., blessed) them the Promised Land so that they would never forget to be grateful and use His providence properly. Regrettably, they soon forgot that it was God’s providential hand that gave them such an extraordinary blessing and abandoned Him by giving priority to tend to their fields, riches, and homes. This is brought to light by the inspired penmen of Judges who unveils how this same generation neglected in teaching their children about Jehovah God, but not in how to work their lands so that they could enjoy its fruitfulness (cf. Judges 2:6-13). Their negligence in teaching their children about God and His mighty works witnessed by their eyes, lamentably depreciated the blessing that they had received from Him. They gave greater importance to the materialistic growth, and belittled the true necessity of spiritual growth. After disclosing Israel’s dreadful carelessness of not teaching their children about God and His commandments, the inspired amanuensis proceeds to talk about the descent of Israel’s society into decadence and indifference. This travesty, unfortunately, still takes place today. The flabbergasting increase of violence, immorality, and apathy that exists in today’s world is the harvest sown by a generation immersed in materialism. Humanity continues to depreciate the blessings of God by allowing their careers, houses, cars, and all other possessions to take over the throne that belongs to Him; the heart. It is a no wonder why Jesus Christ, in His Sermon on the Mount, chose to portray mammon (a personification of wealth) as the other master man will choose to serve instead of God (cf. Matthew 6:24). Indeed, prior to doing so the Master cautioned, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). The Lord is not stating that being wealthy is a wicked or sinful thing, but rather He is reminding His disciples to beware “to trust in uncertain riches” rather than “in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1st Timothy 6:17). When our material gain robs us from our spiritual growth, then God’s blessing is being squandered away since He granted that blessing to us. It is horrifying to observe the consequences of giving precedence to secular education over spiritual education. Fathers who are very involved in securing their children graduate from a university so that they will not go hungry in their adulthood, tragically fail to do the same when it pertains to their children’s spiritual instruction and thus allow their inward man to starve unto spiritual death (cf. John 6:22-40). This is easily visible when a parent becomes upset with the child if he skips school, but is unperturbed if he skips any assembling of the saints (i.e. Bible classes, Gospel meetings, fellowship meals, etc.). This author sadly remembers an experience where a father who was angry with the fact that I “dared” to give his son a failing grade in my youth class for not doing the homework assigned to him, because my class was not “a real class.” Although this is one example of God’s inheritance misused (cf. Psalm 127), I dare say that a great majority hold this same belief when it comes to the study of God’s word. If it were not so, more fathers would be diligent in teaching their children God’s commandments at home (in example and word) and not expect the Sunday school teachers to do all the work for them. It is wise and just to remember that when God blesses us with the physical blessings, it is so we can use them for our spiritual benefit (cf. 1st John 3:16-18, 1st Timothy 6:17-19). It is wise also to always beware that we do not allow those blessings to lose their value before God as was case of the rich fool (cf. Luke 12:13-21). Therefore, let us be grateful to God by using His blessings for our spiritual gain and to His glory.