Don’t Trade What Doesn’t Fade for What Does
By Michael Kelley
There are lots of great things about your kids getting older. You can have deeper conversations. You’re able to tell real jokes and see how they are growing in their intellect and personality. You don’t have to carry kids on your shoulders anymore when you’re on a hike. But one of the difficult things about your kids getting older is that Monopoly becomes more difficult.
Now that might not make sense because, after all, the rules of Monopoly are the rules of Monopoly. But in our house, we always play that layered on the top of the basic rolling of dice and buying property, there is the negotiation. Players can work to buy or trade for property that has been acquired by other players. When our kids were young, this was a lot easier. I could trade for Park Place with a package of Smarties. But now? Well now it’s much more problematic because the kids have grown in their ability to spot what is a good trade and what’s not.
Life, in a sense, is all about tradeoffs. You might make more money, but you have to work longer hours. You might have a larger house, but you have a smaller monthly budget. You might enjoy that package of bacon but you’ll raise your cholesterol. Life is about tradeoffs.
Our spiritual lives are about tradeoffs as well. But as Christians, we must deal with the near constant temptation to trade what doesn’t fade for what does.
Because there are lots of things in our lives that DON’T fade. We have an inheritance in Christ that will never spoil or fade. We have a birthright, thanks to the gospel, that makes us co-heirs with Jesus. We have the promise that God is not only with us, but is actually FOR us, working all things together for our good.
These are things that don’t fade. And yet the things of world - those things that DO fade - are a lot more visible. They seem sometimes to be more real, or at least more immediate. And so we are tempted to trade what doesn’t fade for the things that do.
To trade the eternal for the temporal.
To trade the “then” for the “now.”
To trade what eternal joy for momentary pleasure.
We are not alone in this temptation, and we aren’t alone if we give into it.
We turn back to the story of Jacob and Esau in the book of Genesis and find that Esau was willing to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew. We find Moses, the great leader of Israel, willing to trade his leadership into the Promised Land for an outburst of anger. We see David willing to trade his integrity for a sexual encounter with Bathsheeba.
And then we come to Jesus who warned us very directly about this very thing: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
There will always be the temptation to make that trade just as so many have done before us. To trade what doesn’t fade for what does. We must recognize this danger and heed this warning. But as we are heeding this warning, let us also remember the good news - the good news is that if you are a Christian, then you are a beneficiary of the greatest trade. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. Do you see the trade?
Jesus got our sin; we got His righteousness.
Jesus got our punishment; we got peace.
Jesus was forsaken; we were accepted.
Jesus became poor; we became spiritually rich.
Jesus got death; we got eternal life.
This is the message of the gospel - it is a great exchange that has been offered to us. Let that truth be the wind in your sails this morning as you are daily confronted with the choice to make trades of your own. Don’t trade what doesn’t fade for what does.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.