Is your stuff more valuable than Oprah’s?
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Oprah Winfrey is having a yard sale on November 2nd. She has decided the gilded, ornate décor of her home doesn’t “reflect her true style.” I guess she is hoping that it will reflect someone else’s style. It is a good thing Oprah is famous because, most of us who attend garage sales aren’t looking for “gilded” to reflect our “true style” either. But then again, most garage sales aren’t held at the Santa Barbara Racquet and Polo Club either.
I love to garage sale and recently came home with a beautiful Santa that I bought for $20 at an estate sale. I will be excited to set him out in a month or so. I’m not sure Oprah has any $20 items. She does have a Victorian baby carriage that will “start” bidding at just $100. I liked her green plaid, crushed velvet sofa, but the bids on that begin at $1500. If an 18th-century Louis XVI Leonard Boudin bureau reflects your true style, you can bid on Oprah’s. It is valued at $50,000 but I’m not sure what that opening bid will be.
Oprah is going to be donating the proceeds of her yard sale to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation College Fund, which supports the university studies of graduates of her school in South Africa. I’m sure a lot of young women will be blessed by the proceeds of what is going to be an exciting yard sale. I can’t help but wonder what Oprah’s “true style” really is. When she redecorates her home, what will she shop for?
I’ve been teaching through the Sermon on the Mount for the past few weeks. I was struck by the way Jesus chose to end his lengthy message. He said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25). Jesus wasn’t really referring to our physical home or the style of décor we use. Jesus was comparing our home to our lives, our priorities and the choices we make.
Matthew 5-7 contains some of the richest teaching in all of Scripture. One commentary I read referred to those chapters as the “Christian Manifesto.” Jesus, at the end of his lengthy message tells the crowd, “Everyone who hears these words of mine AND puts them into practice” is wise. In other words, they are living a life that God can bless. The rock that Jesus is referring to is “his teaching.” If we live the life that he has described and prescribed in the Sermon on the Mount, we have been wise.
I look around my home and realize that it does reflect my “true style.” I often tease and say that my home occasionally reminds me of a Christian bookstore – but with more places to sit. I like my crosses, my Scripture plaques and the pictures that reflect what I believe. If I had a yard sale today I’m sure I would include a few of the older, more dated items that I could part with. People who came to my yard sale would know that I am a Christian.
The point of this blog post isn’t about the items that I have in my physical home. Those items reflect my faith in Christ – but does my life do that as well? Does my life reflect my “true style” which is my faith in Jesus Christ?
Does your home reflect your true style? And does your life preach the same sermons that your home’s Scripture plaques and pictures demonstrate? I would like to encourage you to spend some time reading and studying the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). If you want some leadership for your study, go to the Bible Study tab on my website. Lessons 5-7 of the Matthew study are available there, free to anyone who wants them.
Jesus said, that everyone who will study and then live like he taught them in the Sermon on the Mount, will be wise. Your life can reflect the fact that you believe in Jesus as your Savior and that you want to live a life that God can bless.
Is your true style, your Christian witness? Spend some time with Jesus on the Mount. Adjust your choices and your priorities so that you can live obedient to his teaching in Matthew 5-7. If you do, your “home” will be built on the rock and that is the safest, strongest place to live. And one day when your children put together an estate sale, your “stuff” will be more valuable than you can imagine.
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