Henry was born into a world beneath the Earth’s surface void of any light. He stumbles around in pitch blackness navigating the underground tunnels entirely by touch, accustomed to collisions and falls from a lack of sight. Having grown up in this subsurface underworld, having no knowledge of surface-dwelling this individual is entirely unaware that they are missing out. Light is a foreign concept because the darkness is all he has ever known. Any rumors of light allowing something called “sight” that drift down to this subterrestrial existence that they may have heard about are entirely not understood. Henry is blind and he doesn’t even know it. 

Scripture indicates that this is not too far from reality for much of this world. Apart from Christ, our only option is to dwell in the dominion of darkness (Colossians 1:13). God says that not only are unbelievers living in darkness but that they actually are darkness (Ephesians 5:8). And like this fictional child, they don’t even know it. They are blind without even realizing it. They stumble through life unaware of what they are missing out on. Unbelievers are left in this condition until the light of Christ crashes into their existence and brings sight to the blind in a very real way.

Light breaking in

Eventually, a sliver of light breaks through the ceiling and shines down into the underworld and unknown sight is gained. It is foggy, blurry, and dim, but finally, a ladder leading up to the surface can be spotted. Henry doesn’t understand what is happening, but he now knows there is so much more to this world than he has ever known. So he climbs the ladder and with every step, the world gets brighter and brighter. After much squinting and pausing to allow his unaccustomed eyes to adjust to the sight he pushes his way up to the Earth’s surface.

When the light of Jesus breaks through the darkness of this world it can’t be ignored. For the first time sin is seen for what it really is. For the first time truth is seen, believed, and understood. The reality of God and the reality of our own condition can no longer be ignored because it is sitting right in front of us. The truth is not always pleasant, but we can no longer close our eyes to its presence.

A whole new world

Henry can’t believe his eyes the world is so much more than he had ever experienced before. It was beautiful. It was terrible. He never knew that this was reality. He had thought the tunnels he had spent years traversing were all there was, but it turns out there is so much more. It seemed as though everywhere he looked there was evidence that things were not right. His years in the tunnels had never shown him anything like this before. 

Before the light of Christ, we are living in ignorance. We are totally unaware that this world is broken. We have no idea of the existence of our perfect God nor the reality of our sinful condition. We are living blind to the real beauty of this world and also painfully unaware of our own condition. Living in real light changes all of that.

Is it worth it?

At times as Henry traverses this new world of light, he wishes he was still in darkness. It seems like it would have been easier to stay below the surface. He sees things he would rather not see. The reality that he can no longer avoid, is so unpleasant that he would like to close his eyes to it. He sees his reflection and he is not as attractive as he might have wished. At times he is even tempted to go through this sunny surface world with blinders in front of him. He desires to run from the light back to hide in the shadows. But he can’t. His eyes have been opened and no matter how hard he might try to close his eyes to this reality he cannot. He now has the light of the world. And the truth is, although his life is now more complicated than ever, and he can see all sorts of scary things, he wouldn’t trade it for the world, because closing his eyes to those things doesn’t make them go away. Now Henry can see real life.

Sometimes Christians don’t want to live in the light as they should. Instead, we try to slink back into darkness. The light of Jesus is too bright and we want to remove ourselves from it. It shines on us and shows all of our imperfections and we don’t like that. It would be ridiculous to close our eyes to the light once it has come into our life. If you are a Christian you are to live in the light. You cannot go back into darkness. And that light will show you just how broken this world really is. It will even show you just how broken you are. Be glad you can see it. Don’t close your eyes to it. Seeing it means you can see real life.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Jesus is the light of the world. You don’t have to live in a world without light.

Envision that you are on a ship clinging tightly to whatever it is that you have on this earth that you treasure the most. Imagine whatever it is that you value so highly slipping out of your grasp only to fall out of reach. You lounge forward in a final futile attempt to catch hold of it, only to see it fall forever into the depths of the sea, unable to ever be retrieved again.

This is exactly the picture that John Foster uses in his book from the early 1800s entitled “The Improvement of Time.” In it, he points to another treasure that moment by moment is wasted by being dropped over the edge, but its loss is many times unnoticed. The 234-page book’s entire intent is to convince the reader not only of the value of time but to also see how easily it slips away from us, never to be seen or utilized again.

The Value of a Minute

When we are young, we are constantly given unheeded warnings on the speed and shortness of life. Usually, they passed over our heads under the assumption that the “old” men and women giving them were out of touch. But did you realize that God gives the very same warnings? 

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Psalm 90:10

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:4

In Ephesians God tells us that he has things for us to do. We are His workmanship and He has created and prepared things for us to do. We only have this life to do them. There is no second shot. There is no reset button on this journey that we are on. When we reach the end of our lives, as Christians we will give an account for the life that God has given us. I’d like to leave no task that God has prepared for me undone.

In John 9 Jesus tells us that “We must do what God has for us now while it is day for night is coming when no one can work.” We will never accomplish what God has created us for if we aimlessly drift through this life, allowing it to passively pass us by. It’s our choice to either spend ourselves on the things that matter: God, His Kingdom, and His mission, or to spend our lives on cheap thrills, comfort, and ease. But only one decision will have anything to show for it in the end.  

Minutes Easily Spent

Imagine having $40,000,000. You would likely give little thought to dollars spent here and there. Some costs are paid so gradually that the total expense paid slips away without notice. But when those small payments here and there are totaled, the sum would be staggering. When it comes to the investment of our lives, I think many of us spend them in that way; wasted, not all at once for we are far too wise to make such a mistake. Instead as fools, we spend our life savings of time on little trinkets here and there. Our time purchases nothing of great value, worth investing in, but it is spent in such small instances, that it concerns us very little.

If you are an average man or woman in the United States your life will likely consist of just over 40 million minutes. What are you going to do with them? It would be easy to excuse wasting a great deal of it, but be careful, you just might find at the end of it all you wasted more than you realized.

No Getting it Back

There is no way of getting time back, once spent it is gone for good. If time has slowly been falling out of your hands beneath the surface of the sea you cannot dive down to retrieve it. The moments were wasted. All you can do moving forward is to fight to keep more from drifting away. I don’t know how much time is left in your bank, but you have some. You have one life to live. Spend it where it counts and make it count.

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

I wish I was smarter, and I am willing to bet that you wish you were as well. However, scripture is clear that there is a difference between being intelligent according to this world and being wise in the eyes of God. One leads to righteousness, spiritual maturity, and usefulness in God’s kingdom. The other leads to an inflated ego and eventual destruction. Scripture says, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” Godly wisdom is to be sought after, while earthly wisdom is never to be trusted.

If you find yourself lacking in the necessary wisdom, the Bible has much to say about it. God’s word reveals that wisdom is found in scripture (2 Timothy 3:15). There is wisdom to be found in Godly counsel (Proverbs 11:14 & 24:6). If you are lacking wisdom James tells us to pray and ask God for it (James 1:5). Wisdom is withheld from the proud and given to the humble (Proverbs 11:2).

Another Path to Wisdom

But God tells us another way to gain wisdom. In 1 Corinthians 3:18, the apostle Paul writes, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” Wait a minute, did God really just tell us that to be wise we must become a fool? He sure did. But don’t run off making terrible decisions just yet.

When God tells us to become a fool, He is speaking of becoming a fool to the wisdom of the world. The world would tell us it is foolish to trust and obey the Lord. The world would tell us it is insane to believe that God created this earth a mere few thousand years ago with His words. The world would tell us that to put all our hope in a “man” who came to this earth only to be killed on a cross is idiotic.

Embrace Foolishness

God says not only to embrace such truths but to display our “foolish” belief to all around us. Let’s face it, God’s ways do not always make sense to our intellect. He used trumpets to fall the walls of Jericho. He told Gideon to shrink his army from 32,000 to 300 before going into battle. He used an ox goad in the hand of Shamgar to defeat 600 Philistines. A jawbone from a donkey in the hand of Samson to defeat an entire army, and just a few loaves and fish to feed thousands of people.

1 Corinthians 1:25 says that the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God stronger than man. God was at His most “foolish” and very “weakest” according to our limited perspective at the cross where He hung suffering and dying, but the reality was this was infinitely wiser and stronger than anything man could do. It was at the time when you and I would see God’s plan to be a complete and utter failure that He did what could easily be argued as the most miraculous, powerful, and brilliant act the Lord has ever undertaken.

An Undesirable Path

The problem is we live in an age with perhaps the strongest aversion to being seen as fools in the eyes of others. We want everyone to think highly of us. We would hate to even consider someone looking down at us.

To be a faithful Christian, obedient to God’s word, truly wise in the eyes of God, you are going to have to become a fool. You are going to have to embrace it. You’ll have to seek it. You are going to have to open your mouth and declare the gospel. And if you are really good at it, people will think you are dumb. They will think you are wrong. Will you be ashamed of believing what the Bible teaches when the world calls you a fool?

God says in Proverbs 2:2 to pursue wisdom and in 1 Corinthians 3, He tells us how to do it. If you wish to be wise in the eyes of God, you must become a fool in the eyes of the world. It seems like a fair trade to me. After all, God as Jesus Christ became a man for your sake. God, the perfect, sinless, holy, powerful, creator of the universe humbled himself and became sin on the cross for your sake. Are you willing to be a fool for Him? The funny thing is that doing so turns out to be the wisest thing you could ever do.

Christmas can be an overwhelming time. Cultural and familial pressures all around us tend to push and pull us in all directions at once. Messages are screamed at us about what to buy, where to go, and who to be with. The cultural pressure presents unrealistic expectations to please everyone and give a picture-perfect image during this season. It can lead people to feel frazzled and frantic. This feeling of being overwhelmed by these things is entirely unnecessary. There is no reason for Christians to allow our culture to push and pull us as it does, but that is not the point I want to make.

I believe that Christmas is intended by God to be overwhelming. He wants us to stand still in awe of the season. Not because we tend to give in to every whim of our culture, but because of the incredible work of our God. As Christians, we know that God in all of His glory was pleased to come to this earth as a man. We also know that He did this for us.

Easily Forgotten

The sad reality is that we all too often become numb to this truth. It isn’t that we don’t know it or believe it, but it is just that we are apathetic to it. The reality of the gospel should be overwhelming. It should leave us in awe and wonder. Being reminded of the fact that our God left the perfection and majesty of heaven to come to this fallen earth for us fallen creatures is astonishing.

Equally astonishing is that those of us who know it to be fact can let life pass us by as though it doesn’t matter. This time of year, we are far too easily overwhelmed by the necessity of the perfectly made Christmas cookie, all the while unmoved and unaffected by the gospel. Christmas is a reminder that Christ did come. If He hadn’t, we would be left with no savior and no hope for salvation. There would be no real peace and no real joy. Christ accomplished much in His coming to this world. Here are just a few such accomplishments found in the account of His birth found in the Gospel of Luke.

Peace – “To guide our feet into the way of peace” Luke 1:79

Colossians 1:20 tells us that Jesus brings us peace with God through the blood of His cross. Apart from Jesus, it is impossible for us to have peace with God. Our sins cause us to be at enmity with God. This leaves us in a constant state of turmoil between Him and us that we could never repair on our own. Jesus left heaven to mend that turmoil.

Joy – “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy” Luke 2:10

At times it seems like this world gives us very little reason to be joyful. God through Christ gives us every reason. John 15 tells us that we can be friends with Christ. Good friends make you happy. The best of friends brings real joy. Jesus says that He brings us real and abundant life. He also gives us a purpose to live for. Our Lord has come and because of that, we can have joy.  

Light – “To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,” Luke 1:79

If Jesus is the light of the world as He claimed to be, that means that apart from him the entire world is living in darkness. Your options are either Christ or darkness, there is no third alternative. The light of Christ illuminates and exposes the darkness of sin, and also shines on the goodness of God. We take a light into a room to dispel the darkness. Likewise, the light of Jesus Christ had to come into this darkness of our sin to illuminate and deal with that darkness.

Salvation – “To give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins” Luke 1:77-78

The natural state of mankind is broken, fallen, dying, and headed for destruction. The only possible way to alter that trajectory is Jesus. On the first Christmas, “unto us a savior was born” which is good news for us because we were in desperate need of one. Jesus did not come for the healthy. He didn’t come to give us some moral lessons, or simply to live an example of the “good life”. He came to save souls.

Being overwhelmed is typically not a good thing. But the facts of Christ should leave us overwhelmed and in awe. The creator of the universe came to you and me. God dwelt among us, and He did it because of a love for us. Just this once, let yourself be overwhelmed.

The term etcetera is commonly used at the end of a list indicating that farther similar things are included that are too tedious to list and unworthy of any kind of special attention or note. One man, C.T. Studd took hold of the term as a call to fulfill the commands of Christ to enlist in his mission with no promise of earthly reward, fame, or glory. C.T. Studd was an English missionary who had a rarely matched passion to see the evangelization of the world. He faithfully served the lord in China, India, and Africa, some of the hardest mission fields of his day. His life motto was, “If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” Around our church we know him for some of his well known quotes such as, “Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell!”

This quote sounds good doesn’t it? Yet I wonder how many of us are willing to truly embrace the totality of this quote’s repercussions.  Explaining this directive, Studd wrote a short pamphlet entitled Christ’s Etceteras. In it he encouraged Christians to take the mission of Christ seriously and rebuked those who lived their Christianity with no sense of urgency. 

An Excerpt from Studd’s writing

“Believing that further delay would be sinful, some of God’s insignificants and nobodies, but trusting in our Omnipotent God, have decided to make a definite attempt to render the evangelization of the world an accomplished fact. For this purpose we have banded together under the name of “Christ’s Etceteras,” and invite others of God’s people to join us in this glorious enterprise. We are merely Christ’s nobodies, otherwise Christ’s Etceteras. We rejoice in and thank God for the good work being carried on in the already occupied lands by God’s Regular Forces. We seek to attack and win to Christ only those parts of the devil’s empire which are beyond the extremest outposts of the regular army of God. Our method is to search and find out what parts of the world at present remain unevangelized, and then by faith in Christ, by prayer to God, by obedience to the Holy Spirit, by courage, determination, and supreme sacrifice, to accomplish their evangelization with the utmost dispatch.”

What’s in it for us?

He needed no recognition, he was fully aware that he was insignificant, a nobody, Christ’s etcetera. He traded fame for anonymity and obscurity, ease for great pain and trials, wealth for extreme poverty. And in doing so he gained an extraordinary legacy that has changed entire countries for generations.

We are not to faithfully obey because we have some desire for fame and recognition. We faithfully obey to promote the cause of Christ and to bring glory to HIS name. For the Christian the legacy that we leave really is not for us, but for Jesus. Like John the baptist says in John 3:30 Jesus must increase, and we must decrease. 

We are to spend our life increasing Christ whatever the cost. In doing that we will live a life worth living. Whether we are remembered or not, one thing is certain, Jesus won’t forget. Spend your life for Him. You won’t be forgotten, at least not by the one person whose remembrance of us will count for anything in the end. In the end, who do you want to know your name, do you want the world to tout your name to the masses or do you want Jesus to look at you and say “well done.” What a privilege it is to be one of Christ’s insignificant nobodies. What a privilege it is to be counted as one of His “etceteras.”

CT Studd’s closing thoughts

Below is the conclusion of Studd’s pamphlet. (edited slightly for readability)

“Who will enlist for Jesus Christ today, to fight to a finish, to crown HIM Lord of all the world? I come to do Your will, O my God. I enlist in Your army for this definite purpose. My one ambition in life shall now be to seek by all the means and powers at my disposal to live, pray, work and die to bring about the evangelization of every unevangelized part of the world, and every creature therein, and so crown Christ Lord of all. I admit to being the biggest fool on earth. All the better, for no other can henceforth fear being too small, too weak, or too foolish for the job.

God loves to use such, that all the glory may be Christ’s. Consecrate yourself this day unto the Lord for this cause.

Dare you refuse? You must ere long meet your Lord and Saviour face to face! How will you do so if, when you had the chance, you refused to fight for His Coronation?”

On November 16th, 1992 Peter Whatling lost his hammer while working in a field. There was nothing exceptionally noteworthy about said hammer, however having always liked that particular tool he called his friend and amateur metal detectorist Eric Lawes to come and give him a hand. In the search for the hammer, Peter and Eric discovered a treasure trove from over 1,500 years previous. Treasure troves are treasures hidden to be recovered at a later date. As a reward for finding that treasure they received an equivalent of five million dollars from the British Historical Society and the treasure found its new home in the British Museum. Unfortunately, there was a catch, Peter’s hammer was also recovered and became part of the exhibit and the British Museum. There is no indication that Peter or Eric had any hesitations in trading in the once valued tool for the fortune that they received.    

A Treasure More Valuable

One of Jesus’s shortest parables and yet also one of His most powerful contains a similar story. In the Parable of the Hidden Treasure in Matthew 13:44 Jesus tells a story of another treasure trove that Christ likens to the Kingdom of Heaven. A man is out in a field when he stumbles upon an unexpected and very valuable treasure. In great joy, he covers it up, returns home where searches high and low for every last possible possession he owns. He sets up his folding tables and sells all he has ever owned and worked for in order to purchase the field with the once hidden treasure.

Christ tells this story to teach us the value of the kingdom of heaven. And just what is that value? It is more precious than we can begin to fathom because it is worth more than everything else that there is or has been. Whatling gave up a rusty old hammer and got millions, seems like a good deal. Receiving the Kingdom of Heaven even at an exorbitant cost would be an even better one.

What Treasure?

The treasure is what made all the difference. Letting go of everything would be ridiculous if the return was not of greater value than the investment put in. Rest assured there is no need for concern here. We are talking about salvation, eternal life, about Christ’s rule and reign, about the literal perfect heaven that is to be enjoyed for eternity beyond this life.  

Philippians 3:8 “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”

What is this treasure? Jesus himself. The Kingdom of heaven is far less about a place and more about a person. Paul said that everything else in the world should be counted as a loss because of the far greater worth of knowing Jesus. All treasures under heaven fail to measure up to Him.  

Remember Why You Sold Everything

For the man in the parable, there was a cost to obtain the treasure. Viewed one way the treasure seemed costly. It took him everything he had. But viewed another way, the trade would seem like the best deal ever. The value of everything in the world could never equate to this prize, let alone his meager belongings. Only a fool would not do whatever necessary to purchase that field.  

You will have dark days where you question the worth of this new found treasure. Pain, hardships, frustrations, and disappointments will abound. You will find yourself wondering if instead of receiving an amazing deal you may have just been ripped off. Your mind will be full of thoughts such as this isn’t what I signed up for, this is too hard, this just isn’t worth it. They aren’t true. Remind yourself of that as often as is necessary. Don’t allow yourself to be tempted to abandon your fortune to return to your old rusty hammer.

Because we do not currently get to experience the fullness of what the Kingdom of God will one day entail, there are times we forget that it is worth the cost. There are times that we doubt it, but the truth remains. This is a treasure worth it all because this treasure is no earthly fortune, but instead a person. It’s a person who paid it all. If anyone got the short end of the bargain, it was Him.

Let go of your rusty hammer. You’ll be glad you did.