Heart Tracks - Chasing Tinsel

     When I was a boy, there was an annual after Christmas event that all the kids looked forward to: the burning of all the discarded Christmas trees.  Everyone would bring their trees to a large flat area behind our neighborhood, simply called, "The Dump."  An enormous pile of very dry trees was formed, and the local volunteer fire department was on hand to supervise it all.  Something I remember was that a number of the trees still had a lot of silver and gold tinsel clinging to them.  Even in the night, they seemed to glow.  However, once the fire was lit, it was a very short time before all of the trees, tinsel included, were consumed.  It was a quite a happening, and also quite a commentary on life both then and now.  Tinsel, which can gleam and be such an object of attention, in the end, is burned up, because it, like the trees, is shortlived.  "Tinsel," which many of us spend our lives pursuing with wholehearted energy, is in the end, a feeble prize.

     Many of us, perhaps you and I right now, are engaged in seeking that prize.  Prestige, achievement, recognition, the approval and applause of men, status, we can end up craving such tinsel, though we can go to great lengths denying the pursuit.  Those who comprise the church are not immune, in fact, we, particularly ministers, may be more guilty than all.  The thought of being unnoticed, unhonored, anonymous, clutches at our heart.  Despite our protests to the contrary, we can crave just as strongly, even moreso, the accolades of men, and the honors that go with them.  It's in our flesh, and can only be overcome by our crucifixion of that flesh.  In all things, including ministry, we need to come before Him asking just where every ambition of our hearts lead to the approval of men, or the approval of the Father?
    Henry Blackaby wrote, "Our great temptation will be to affirm ourselves while we follow Jesus.  James and John did this when they chose to follow Jesus, but asked for the two most prominent positions in His Kingdom while they did so."  I Kings 8 tells of the glory of the Lord so filling the Temple, that the priests could not stand before it, or perform their tasks.  I wonder if the performing of our "tasks" has become so all-consuming to us, that we leave no room for His glory, because we're too busy pursuing our own?  As Blackaby puts it, "God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity.  God receives glory from His activity through our lives." 

    James Dobson tells of his winning a number of trophies while a member of his college tennis team.  This was a source of great pride to him, particularly as they were displayed in the school trophy case for all to see.  A number of years after graduation, he was contacted by a school official and asked if he desired them.  They'd been discovered by a school employee in one of the trash dumpsters used by the college.  Tinsel, once so precious and coveted, was now discarded, useless, in essence, burned up.  In the end, how many of our "trophies" will suffer the same fate as Dobson's?
    What is the "prize" that you and I pursue?  Gold and silver that glows brightly for a time, but in the end is just tinsel, and is consumed by our God who truly is a consuming fire?  Or, do we pursue the gold and silver of the Kingdom?  Gold and silver that perhaps no one but He recognizes as such?  Gold and silver that may not bring the applause of any man, including those within the church, but certainly wins the applause of heaven, and the very throneroom of the King.  In the end, will our lives be defined by tinsel, and our lust for it, or by a hunger and thirst for that which "moth and rust" can never diminish, and never devour?  Do we chase tinsel and its rewards, or Him, and the reward of His Presence and life?

Blessings,

Pastor O, one who has chased much tinsel