Her husband died recently. She's in her late eighties. Her health is declining. She's already had some Emergency Room visits. It's not safe for her to live at home alone. "Home" is a 4-bedroom, two-story house she can't even see half the time, let alone maintain. (She can't even manage the stairs.) She has to pay for yard maintenance and everything else. She has a substantial bank account and receives a couple of sources of income, so she's not hurting financially, but ... she doesn't want to move to someplace she can be cared for. Why? Because, according to her, "Where will I put my furniture?"
What is it we value? I'm stunned at times. She values ... her furniture. She values her furniture above safety, health, and anyone else's concerns. What do I value above anything else? That question disturbs me a lot. My head says, "Christ alone," but what do my actions say? I'm concerned about cost of living when God promises to supply all my needs (Php 4:19). I'm worried about politics when God says all authority comes from Him (Rom 13:1-2). I preach doing loving your neighbor by sacrificing self (John 13:34) and too often fail to do so. I ... too often ... love things I shouldn't more than what I should love more.
My lady of the first paragraph isn't quite all there mentally. Old people, you know. So the problematic thinking is dramatic. Unfortunately, we all suffer from this kind of problematic thinking, even without the age problem. We're humans in constant need of a renewed mind (Rom 12:2). Solomon wrote, "Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life" (Pro 4:23). Everything comes from our hearts and minds. I fear we're too lax in guarding them from error.
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