If this were a ‘normal’ year, I could ask this question, and people would reply with a ‘normal’ answer. “What do kids back in school, deadline for doe permits, football, and the world series have in common?” Think normal – not covid-19. If you guessed new fall TV shows, you’d get a slow head shake. Nope. If you guessed the official end of garage sale season, you’d get a sharp nod. Yup.
On a whim, I stopped at a rag-tag garage sale last year. I strolled around a few long tables piled high with stuff. Someones’s past lingers in the clutter of another’s soon-to-be treasure. I’m fairly certain this is where the idea of recycling began.
I scanned the corroded dehumidifier, a 1940’s partial set of like-new encyclopedias, and an incomplete set of dishes. I readily admit that I am not a garage sale junkie. Most of this stuff will probably end up in the junk yard – never to be seen again. As I left the garage sale, I noticed a sign that read, “All Sales Final.” No return policy on things that don’t work once I get them home? Humph. I’m done with garage sales.
However, I do have a friend that finds broken furniture, nic-nacs, and dolls with missing arms, and skips to her car with her stash. She fixes and cleans the items and restores them to be something of value.
In comparison, people are much like the broken and worthless items that are stacked on tables at garage sales. We, by nature, are destined for the dark and eternal junk yard. Without hope.
But God ~
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ Jesus. For by grace (undeserved kindness) you have been saved though faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” ( Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9) Do you know what the key words are here? But God.
God saw our brokenness, our hopelessness, our worthlessness in all of humanity. Yet, He loves every one of us, and could see our potential through His Son to become something beautiful – something of value. He sent His Son, Jesus, to salvage us, like someone who sees the potential of garage sale stuff, buys them and restores them to be something cherished – something of value.
Apart from Christ Jesus, we are worthless junk, but by God’s grace through faith in God’s Son, we are made new. Not like new, but new! Instead of living in darkness in an eternal, smoldering junk yard, believers in Jesus are destined to live forever in the light of God’s love and will walk on streets paved with gold.
Definitions of ‘junkie‘ – one who is addicted to drugs, one who collects junk, or a sinner who is in need of salvage (the act of saving or rescuing something or someone who is in danger of being destroyed). I can honestly say, “Thirty six years ago, I went from junkie to salvaged.