In 2 Chronicles 20:25, the combined army of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Mt. Seir (Syria) came together to fight against King Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The house of Israel prevails. In the next verse it mentions Judah overlooking the wilderness and seeing a multitude of dead bodies. Then in verse 25, it says “they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies.” In the aftermath of such a big event, my eyes were completely swept away by everything that I had previously read and consumed by this small verse because of how it was worded. “Valuables on dead bodies.” It’s interesting because in today’s world, we get so caught up in this belief that anything we do is because we choose to do it. This is partly true. It’s called free will. But I believe careful consideration needs to be taken into account to ensure the things we desire don’t have us and become our identity. After reading this verse, I thought about how it describes the accessories as valuable which they rightly are, “precious jewelry",” it even says but the bodies as “dead.” Never once has God referred to those in Christ Jesus as dead, whether alive or in the grave.

“To be absent from the body to be present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8)

There are two distinct walks of life in this world: Walking in the Holy Spirit and Walking in the flesh. In the former, you walk in the abundance of the fruits of the Holy Spirit some of which are love, patience, kindness and longsuffering. The latter means walking in the way of the world. It means catering to the here and now and never ministering to the things that come after.

Food for thought: How people describe you may be an indication of who is lord over your life.

May we never live our lives when the things we had are more talked about than the life we lived.