The Price We Pay
Is there anyone out there like me? Did you move two, five, ten years ago and you still have boxes from that move that you still haven’t opened? As I was looking at some of the unpacked boxes I have at my house, it caused me to pause to think about the countless other unpacked boxes that I’m paying to be stored in a storage unit. They’ve been there for years and at the rate I’m going, they just may be there for the rest of eternity. I know I’m paying a hefty price to store all my old stuff but since the monthly payments are on autopay, I don’t really have to think about it and the expense at some point just became a part of my norm.
One morning I finally paused long enough to really think about it and it quickly became very evident that the amount I’ve paid to store all my old stuff far exceeds the value of the stuff itself. I said to myself, “I should calculate exactly how much I’ve paid in storage fees over these years to really put it into perspective,” and before I could finish the thought I stopped myself. I know I’ve paid way too much but I dare not reveal to myself exactly how much I’ve paid. It was at that point that I had to admit to myself that I was willing to pay such an extreme price for something that wasn’t worth it just so I didn’t have to deal with it. It was too much. It was overwhelming. What was I going to do with all that old stuff once I unpacked it? The idea of just throwing it away was unbearable because that would mean what took me years to accumulate was all meaningless and of no value.
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. We do this to ourselves every day. We store all our old stuff from our past in the recesses of our brains thinking they’re out of sight and out of mind when in reality the existence of all that stuff continues to haunt us just about every day. The sad fact is we’d rather deal with the haunting thought of the stuffs’ existence than to deal with the stuff itself. We’re pacified with the fact that we’ve been able to move on despite all our lingering unpacked boxes and yet we never pause to truly count the cost of holding on to all our old stuff.
What price have you paid over time for all your old stuff you haven’t wanted to deal with? Yes, we’ve accomplished some good things, but what great things have we had to forego because we’re still holding on to the old? If we just think about it in the natural, how many times have we not gone somewhere we wanted to go or not done something we wanted to do or not supported someone we wanted to support because we felt like we didn’t have the finances to do it? Well, in a case like this, if we would have just dealt with our old stuff a long time ago, that would have been thousands of dollars that we would’ve had to do those things.
Then, looking beyond the surface, we have to ask ourselves what price have we really paid for not being willing to deal with our stuff? Have we missed out on years of not walking in the fullness of what God has called us to do? Have we missed out on countless opportunities to be a blessing in the lives of other people? Do we keep others at arm’s length because we’re too afraid they may get a glimpse of all our stuff if we let them get too close? Have we allowed divine appointments to pass us by because we’re so overwhelmed with our own stuff? Have we not been able to get something new because we’ve been holding on to so much of the old? Or maybe the price we’ve paid is simply a constant feeling of being drained or unfulfilled because we’ve allowed all the unnecessary autopay withdrawals to whittle away at all the deposits we’ve worked so hard to make.
Whatever the case may be, the price we’ve paid is far too expensive. The stuff we’ve held on to for all this time is just not worth it. It has absolutely no eternal value and the truth of the matter is it’s costing us our eternal rewards. I challenge you today to count the cost. Is the price you’re paying to hold on to all that old stuff really worth it? Whether the old stuff you’re holding on to is physical or emotional, deal with it. The freedom that you’ll experience as a result will yield dividends you never ever imagined!
Questions to Ask
· What physical or emotional old stuff are you holding on to because you don’t want to deal with it?
· What price are you continuing to pay for it?
Scripture to Study
· Matthew 9:17