What’s in Your Sack?

By Jerry D. Ousley

            As kids, Halloween was a very special time.  For the sake of this article, I’m not going to get into all the fuss and arguments against it.  I know what it celebrates to some. But for kids it’s a great time to get together, dress up in silly costumes and walk around the neighborhood getting free candy.  When we were kids, we began going “Trick or Treating” about two weeks before the actual set day for doing it.  You could do that then.  Most people didn’t mind and there were no city ordinances saying when you could do it.  After a few nights prowling about the town, you could come up with quite a load of sweet treasures.  I suppose our modern-day practice of limiting Halloween to only one day is for the safety of the kids and also for the budget of the adults.  Have you priced a bag of candy these days? 

Of course, then you didn’t have to be concerned about predators, razor blades in apples and such things. The worst thing you had to worry about was candy thieves. I remember one particular occasion we had been out doing our “Trick or Treat” thing and I had a very good haul in my bag.  We were only a couple of blocks from home and getting ready to end the night when coming towards us were two teenage boys.  When they got up to us one grabbed my arms and the other grabbed my candy bag and off they went, throwing me down on the sidewalk.  I got up crying but not because I was hurt; nope; I was ANGRY!  From that day forward my costume always included a large stick or baseball bat.

In my devotions this morning I was reading in Genesis 43 where Joseph, as the second leader of Egypt – second only to Pharoah himself – had accused his brothers of being spies in Egypt.  He knew who they were but they didn’t know who he was.  During their first trip Joseph let them go with the stipulation that one of the brothers (namely Simeon) were put in prison and left behind until they returned with their younger brother, Benjamin, as proof that they weren’t lying about being a family.  Like I said, he knew them but they didn’t know him.  Before they left Joseph secretly told his steward put their money back into their bags.  When they discovered it they were scared.  Were they being punished for selling their long-lost brother into slavery?  At the direction of their father, Jacob, they were to return with double money.  Money for the next purchase and the money that was in their bags for the first purchase.

Joseph had directed his steward to take the brothers to his house for the noon meal.  When they arrived, in verses 19-23, they explained their predicament to the steward to which the steward replied, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid.  Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.”  That stuck with me – “treasure in your sacks.”  We all carry around this imaginary sack in which we place the trophies, mental notes – both good and bad, desires, wants, accomplishments and many other representations of our lives.

Our sack may be full of things like our jobs and the balance of our 401k plan.  It could hold degrees earned, sports accomplishments and stuff for which we get patted on the back.  Those “at-a-boys” mean a lot to us.  We like to be recognized for our accomplishments.  We like for people to take notice of who we are and what we’ve done.

Actually, that’s the reason most criminals turn to a life of crime.  They haven’t received what they thought they deserved.  And so, they take shortcuts.  Shortcuts that require to take something from someone else whether it be possessions, sexual abuse or abuse in other ways.  When those who examining them dig into their minds, they usually discover those deeply hidden tidbits that have long ago rotted and sit in decay.

However, even those who have received their bag of trophies by hard work, will one day stick their hand down in that sack and discover that there are things missing.  You see, Haggai wrote this in reference to the Jewish people but it also bears witness in our lives.  He wrote in Haggai 1:6, “You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”  Bags that are filled with nothing more than those things that lift us up in pride, and make us feel good, usually develop holes.  These holes allow those things to slip away because, after all, they are only temporal.  If we have been well known in life and have done famously noteworthy things, after we are gone, we might get something named after us, or have our picture placed on a wall, or perhaps be promoted in some sort of hall of fame.  But for most of us, after we are gone, we slip into the shadows in the minds of most, only being remembered by close friends and relatives.  The holes in our bag just let those things slip out and one by one be lost into oblivion.

But, if we place those things into a bag that is spiritual, is full of God and what He has directed us to do, not for our glory and self-esteem, but only to bring glory to Him, when we come to the end of our lives, we won’t be placing our fingers into the holes in our bags but they will be full.  So, I ask you, what kind of bag are you carrying in life?  Is it one of those most commonly found – full of holes, leaking out our lives as we trudge along, or is it one that is strong and dependable?  One in which, when we open it, we find treasure in our sacks?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.