Treasures in Old Boxes

Every once in a while, I like to pull old boxes out in the garage, just to see what’s in them. This week I pulled out a box with some old pictures from when our twins were just about a year old. I can’t believe how much has changed, and how fast it did! In another box next to it, I busted it open and found some old concert programs from people I went to see in college and the first few years I was out of school. Exactly NONE of the hairstyles would fly anymore. Also crammed in the same box were a handful of VHS tapes of movies that I liked in the past. For those that don’t know--a VHS tape is a designation given to a thin plastic rectangular “box” that actually contains a roll of very thin film, which is used for making an analog copy of video. It must be used inside of a Video Cassette Recorder, or VCR. Some people still have them, but they don’t get used very much anymore.

Though none of them are terribly ancient, these would all be considered old items by one standard or another. But, the fun of them is still there, and I definitely traveled along memory lane as I flipped through all the stuff. While I obviously don’t need the things I found, I certainly see the value of each of them, even if it is sentimental.

Old things are not always bad. Depending on the model of it, and antique car almost always has a cool factor that a hybrid Prius can’t match, no matter which celebrity is driving one. Vintage guitars have a tone that only comes from a hand-crafted instrument that won’t be heard in a machine-generated, assembly line guitar.

Last week, while I was working, I heard someone playing the piano in the choir room here at church, which is separated from my office by a mere door. They were playing a hymn that I know because I grew up singing it in church as a child, and then as a teenager. It brought back memories of old hymns that mean a lot to me.

I’m a big fan of new, modern music in churches. I think it is a “language” by which some people are able to focus on God and worship. Only a fool would think that it is the only way to worship God, however, and I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the close-minded option in front of me. Instead, I prefer to recognize the value of all hymns and songs based on the content of the words, not the tune or the style. It just so happens that two modern versions of “old hymns” have been brought to mind lately, and both have words that have clobbered me.

Forbid it, Lord, That I should boast
Save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
From “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

How many times am I pulled away from my commitment to Christ by things that are insignificant and unimportant? (The way vain would have been used at the time this was written.) Why am I so quick to point out my temporary accomplishments, when it is the death of Jesus that gives me permanent life in Him? These are the things that I need to sacrifice and put to death, as Paul talks about in Colossians 3. They also tie in nicely with another modernized hymn we sang in church recently:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to Leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, Take and Seal it
Seal it for thy courts above.
From “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

After what I felt to be a particularly good Bible Study recently, I caught myself silently patting myself on the back about how well I presented the information, as if I really had anything to do with how God used His own Word to move through a Bible Study time that is supposed to be about Him. This passage jumped to mind, as if God were using a language I understand (music) to really get my attention about something that needed fixing.

I am prone to wander from bringing glory to God and pointing to my temporary accomplishments. I tend to boast in things OTHER than the death of Christ that brings me hope for my eternal salvation with Him. Why do I do these things? I know that “...Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved,” (Acts 4:12) and yet I still want to draw attention to me so many times.

Jesus said that to follow Him means to daily die to myself. (Luke 9:23) That means that I must sacrifice all of my pride and accomplishments, and put the glory on Jesus Christ. It also means that I must trust Christ to seal and guard my heart against the things that have the potential to pull me away. I truly do want to serve and honor God with my life, but if I’m not careful, I will be pulled away and become self-serving. But, if I abide in Christ, and He in me, then through Him, I can accomplish all things HE would have me do, and all for His glory, that others may know Him.

I thank God for the hymn writers through all the ages, and in all styles. So often, and for many people, their words can so often be the way the Holy Spirit gets our attention and challenges us to more effectively live our lives for Christ.