Don't value the gifts more than the Giver.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

Deep down in our hearts, I believe that God created a void. Within all of us there is something missing, there's a whole in our soul that only God can fill. The problem is we try to fill it with all kinds of different things. The "bad" people fill it with alcohol, drugs, sex and rock and roll. But not us. No, we fill it with good things like playing in the band, sports and other productive activities. Baseball: my anti-drug. That's good, right?

Here's the problem. God created people to give him glory. Then he blessed us with everything around us as gifts from Him to us. Then, with our sinful nature, we took these gifts from God and we made them more important than God Himself. We took God out of that place in our heart and replaced Him with something that He gave us. Instead of keeping it external to us, we give it way more meaning than it was intended. Having stuff isn't bad. It's what that stuff means to us that gets us into trouble.

Jesus addresses this in Matthew 16:24-25.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

Whoever loses their life for me will find it. In confusing but spiritual way, I guess that makes sense. But what does that look like?

Way back in the book of Genesis, there was a guy named Abraham. When Abraham was old enough to be a grandfather, God blessed him with a son, Isaac. Abraham loved his only son so much that he became the light of Abraham's life. That sounds sweet, but at the same time, Abraham took God out of the void in his heart and replaced Him with the gift that God had given him, Isaac.

In Chapter 22, God tests Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his only son (sound familiar?) to God as a burnt offering. At that point, Abraham had a choice. He could either keep his son and disobey God, or he could lose his son for God. He chose to sacrifice his son before God stopped him. Abraham allowed God to reclaim his rightful spot in the shrine in his heart and God blessed him for that.

"and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Genesis 22:18

If you read on, you find out that Jesus came through Abraham's offspring. If Abraham would have chosen differently, the Old Testament would've looked drastically different.

If and when we replace God in our hearts with the gifts He's given us, we too will be tested by God. We'll have two choices and the choice we make will greatly impact our future. Ready?