by John Grant
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
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“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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
It was a real learning experience when I learned the term. I can remember like it was yesterday. My mother said we were going to town to shop and purchase something. I can’t remember what it was but remember it was something we really wanted. We lived out in the country so going to town was an event and the only place to shop for other than groceries and animal feed.
We went downtown, got in the elevator and went to the top floor and proceeded to pick out our purchase. My mother placed the purchase on the counter and pulled out her charge plate, the aluminum store charge devise that was a precursor to modern day credit cards.
After settling up and getting my mother’s signature, the sales clerk gave her back her charge plate and proceeded to put the package under the counter. My mother turned and walked away without our long awaited purchase.
I asked her to explain and that’s when I learned the term. “Layaway� means that we can’t afford to pay now for what we have purchased, so the store neatly stores it away until it is paid for in full and then we can take it home. I think that probably anyone under forty years old is a stranger to the term.
It is so different now, as it is the exact opposite. I was reading through the advertising supplements of this week’s Sunday newspaper and saw page after page of “pay no interest for a year� and even one that said “no payments until 2010.� It would appear that now you can do the opposite of layaway. Instead of sheltering our object of need until it’s paid for, we take immediate possession of our object of greed and pay for it on a plan where it is designed to self destruct or become technologically obsolete with thirty days after you make the last payment.
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No wonder people are spending more than they make and banks are in the financial soup.
But, the Bible gives us a better definition. Jesus told us to not doddle over what the earth calls treasures, but to lay away heavenly treasures….. those with real value. And He so aptly tells us that where our treasure is, our heart will be also. Now that’s the real definition of layaway.
Question: What are your treasures… the things of this world or the things of heaven?Â
( a thought on life from John Grant )
You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/02/28/jg_layaway/
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