Commentary by Mike Colaw
I love friendships that are deep and time-tested, the friends who stay close through junior high antics, high school drama and the distance of going separate ways. It’s these friends that are safe being the most transparent with. One of my personal friends who fits this description has become quite successful. He has always had an obsessive work ethic, natural leadership abilities and was born fearless. He was the kind of guy we all knew would end up either in prison or unbelievably successful. By the grace of God, he is the latter.
A number of months ago he was sharing with me over the phone. As the conversation developed I realized something I hadn’t noticed before about one of his hobbies. He has an affinity for nice toys, specifically expensive vehicles. He told me that his cars are now so nice he can’t share them with people … interesting. When he had an old vehicle he had no problem loaning it out for others to use, but now his toys are so valuable he can’t share his precious idols, oops, I mean toys … I meant to say toys. By his own admission the more his collection costs him monetarily, the more unavailable they are for others. They are now just his. Interesting, he was MORE gracious when he had stuff that wasn’t so valuable.
As he spoke I could almost hear Gollum from The Lord of the Rings saying, “It’s mine, my prrrrecioussss.”
I should note here that we do have a great relationship. I can pick on him and he pushes right back. Remember? Time-tested, totally open friendship!
You ready for this? Where you spend your extra time, energy and money is probably what you functionally worship. In addition to this, your emotional, relational and spiritual stability is only as solid as your functional idols. If you build your identity into something that can be stolen, lost or rots away, so goes your identity. When you lose your idols, you lose who you are. Bring on the mid-life crises!
I didn’t tell my friend to sell his stuff. I did challenge him to see them as tools rather than treasures. As a Christian, he should use things as tools to help and/or love others.
Love most what lasts longest, that’s eternal. Everything else should just be used as a tool to develop eternal things.
