A little boy saw something shiny at the bottom of an expensive, one-of-a-kind, Chinese vase. He reached in and grabbed it but couldn’t bring his hand back out. It was stuck. He tugged and jerked, but his hand wouldn’t budge. Before long, his parents had exhausted all ideas to get the boy’s had out except for one. They could only think of one last-ditch effort to free his hand – break this priceless vase. So, they carefully chipped the vase away. When they finally freed his hand, they realized why it was stuck in the first place. The boy was tightly clutching something in his hand. His hand could slide in and out of the vase when open, but not in a fist. When the boy opened his hand, he was holding a penny. In childish ignorance, he didn’t want to let go of the penny to free his hand (SermonIllustrations.com).

There are so many shiny and attractive parts of this life. People work unbelievably hard to achieve wealth, popularity, power, and success. So often these come at the neglect of spiritual success. We skip out on spiritual activities for long hours at the office. We let our children skip out on spiritual activities in hopes of athletic and academic success. What good is it if we become a billionaire just to end up spiritually bankrupt with God?  What good is it for our children to become a professional athlete or make it into Harvard if it ends up with them missing out on heaven?

Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing inherently wrong with jobs, athletics, academics, etc. However, it is wrong when they become the master and driving force ahead of God. Christ put it simply, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24).

In reality, what we are seeking to achieve in this life is like the penny in the boy’s hand. Compared to the priceless, one-of-a-kind vase, the penny is worthless. Let’s not hold on to penny of worldly success if it’s going to destroy the priceless, spiritual vase. Let’s not hold on to worldliness if it’s going to cost us heaven.

We have a choice to make. Hopefully, our choice echoes Joshua’s well-known declaration, “…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

Brett Petrillo