Perishable and Imperishable
Last night I did a little "show-and-tell" at youth group - I brought a box with some of my presents that I got for Christmas, and explained that they all had something in common...they are all "perishable", in some sense of the word.An empty cookie tin - used to contain fudge, but fudge never lasts very long in my home! ("And it shows!" one teen wisecracked.) Obviously fudge is perishable - if you leave fudge lying around for long, it gets hard and crunchy and nasty.
A digital camera - "Step on it and you'll find out how perishable it is," one of the teens said. "Don't even need to do that," I said, "All I need to do is accidentally drop it on the rocks when I'm hiking a mountain next summer." Then I pointed out that the batteries are even more perishable. Good thing I got a...
Battery charger and rechargable batteries - "But even rechargable batteries wear out eventually." Very true.
Magic Street, by Orson Scott Card - "If you read it enough it'll start to fall apart," said one teen. "Might get caught up in a book burning," suggested another.
Flagship Cinema gift certificates - They don't have an expiration date, but like the fudge, I can only use them once, and then they are no use any more. "Plus you might drop them in a mud puddle." (Or lose them in my messy apartment, I thought, but didn't say) "We bought you those so you can take us to the movies again," said one of the teens who got that gift for me.
Cosmic Wimpout - The teens are now excited about learning this crazy dice game (no worries - no gambling involved!) But I'm on my second set of Cosmic Wimpout dice, because the first set the painted symbols wore off. Clearly perishable. (Fortunately on this set of dice the symbols are stamped into the wood, so hopefully it'll last a lot longer!)
Condenser Microphone - (which I purchased with some of my Christmas gift money, and which arrived yesterday). When the teens saw the microphone's carrying case (which looks about as formidable as an armored tank) they agreed that this microphone was clearly fragile and perishable.
Let's face it. Everything in this world is perishable. When I asked for definitions of "imperishable", Glen said, "Not of this world," which is not strictly speaking a definition of "imperishable", but it still works, because the things of this world are all perishable.
Matthew 6:19-20
Do not 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 moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
As I studied the book of First Peter (which I'm teaching to the teens at youth group), I realized that this idea of perishable vs. imperishable is an idea that keeps cropping up over and over again. Perhaps it is because the people Peter was writing to were suffering under all kinds of tortures, trials, tribulations, and persecutions, and Peter wanted to remind them that none of the trials of this life really matter in the long run.
Though we face no persecutions like the early church, the message of the perishable and imperishable is equally important to us, in our materialistic society. We cannot allow ourselves to get too attached to the things of this life, which will fade away.
Posted On Dec 29, 2005 at 6:09 AM
On Dec 29, 2005 Laura wrote: That's a very important thing to remember, especially around this time of year. I know I'm certainly guilty of holding on to all my "stuff" a little too zealously at times.
Doug Replied: I think we are all guilty of that to one degree or another...it's so deeply ingrained in our society that we hardly even notice how tightly we hang on to material things.
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