My grandmother told the story of her (then) nineteen-year-old son who came home one day, in the middle of the day, and took his “life-treasure” box (a cigar box) from the top of the dresser.  Now, this was an odd event because it was the middle of the workday, and he had work to do; nevertheless, something compelled him to take a different path.

Her young adult son spread all of his “life-collectibles” across his bed to (as she put it) “look over them one final time.”  My uncle (her son) did not know this would be his final day on earth.

Later in the day, after the accident, when my grandmother walked into the bedroom he had shared with his brothers, she saw all of his “life-treasures” still resting there on top of his quilt—on his final day of life.

I think about this often, about the uncle I never knew & never met.

• What compelled him to do what he did on that final life day?
• Where were his thoughts that day?
• Why did he pull out his cigar box of “life-treasures”?

You see, that day, my mom’s brother, my uncle, my grandmother’s son, the one I never knew came home for whatever reason to look at his “treasures” one last time.  Then he took his saved money from that same box and drove to pay his final payment for his car.

• This was the same car he wrecked minutes after he paid his debt.
• This was the same afternoon he left work in the middle of the day to drive home and look through his “most-treasured” items.
• This was the same day a terrible accident occurred, one almost freakish where high speed, drugs, alcohol, phones, or any other type of distraction seemed to have caused the accident.
• This was the day Jesus came to take my uncle home to Heaven.

If you are like me, then you have several Bibles inside your home, and although we have several, there are quite possibly some that we “treasure” more than others.  For example:

• I have my grandpa’s Bible (my dad’s dad), one that he underlined verses in and one I keep stored in a cedar chest.
• I also have Bibles that I began buying for myself when I turned fifty (a new copy each year) so that I could make new notes, underline new passages, and learn new teachings the Lord had for me.  These are the same Bibles that I have bequeathed to my daughters at my death.
• I also have my own Bible I carried when I was a teenager, the one I received when I accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.  This is the same Bible I used when I first began to memorize scripture.  Interesting enough, the first verses I memorized spoke the truth about the importance of God’s Word in one’s life.  My then boyfriend, now husband and I worked together to memorize Paul’s writing to Timothy, a true son in the faith.

• God’s Word is breathed out by God Himself for one reason:  SO WE WILL ENCOUNTER THE LIVING GOD!
• God’s Word is “a treasure” & “a gift of God” for our benefit, and that is primarily why we need to read & apply God’s Word daily to our day-to-day lives.

To show us how we need to apply God’s Word to our lives, the psalmist writes these words:

Unfortunately, the people of Judah did not heed God’s direction, and in going their own way, they came into the hardship of captivity.

I wonder:

• What do we “treasure” most?

If today were our final day on earth:

• What action would command our attention?
• Would we share God’s Word, pay off our debts, go home in the middle of the workday, visit our grandparents & siblings, and close friends?
• Would we witness to the lost?
• Would we simply sit and read God’s Word as we treasured His teaching, His direction?

May we not follow the similar path of the people of Judah.

• May we “treasure God’s Word“ with our mouths, our thoughts, & our actions.
• May we “listen to the voice of the LORD our God” as we live.
• May Our Sincere Prayer to God become—