PRIORITIES OF LIFE

           A preacher named Tom Harguess wrote a bulletin article a couple of decades ago that I think captured our struggle with affluence. Here is a portion of what he wrote:

            While holding a gospel meeting in Gallup, New Mexico, I began visiting with a lady of the congregation, who had some time ago read an old book on the sinking of the Titanic. It makes you take focus on what is really important in life.

            On April,14 1912, at 11:40 P.M., the unsinkable Titanic struck an iceberg. It sank about 2:20 A.M., and the S.S. Carpathia arrived on the scene to receive survivors at 4 A.M. At the time of the collision there were a total of 2340 on board. Only 745 of that number were rescued.

            What is it to a man who is about to die, to know that there is at hand on the Titanic 3 electric elevators, squash courts, Turkish baths, a hospital with an operating room, private promenade decks, Renaissance cabins, a palm garden, a darkroom for photography, the tapestry of an English castle, and a dinner service of 10,000 pieces of silver and gold.

            In that midnight crisis the one thing needful was not provided, where everything was supplied. The one inadequacy was the lack of lifeboats!

            In our modern world we have many luxuries. The finest homes, the finest automobiles, the finest clothing, the finest food money can buy; many different toys to amuse us. What many don’t have is security of life. A knowledge that heaven awaits us.                                        

           Be careful when you surround yourself with things and leave off caring for your spiritual welfare. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

            Well said, Tom. What are our priorities of life?