Treasure in a Trifle

"Turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things." 1 Samuel 12:21

The meaning of this text is different than you think. The word vain here does not mean sinful. It means empty. Why does Samuel fear empty things for God's people? Doesn't Israel have actual sin to be reproved? Aren't empty things, in the grand scheme, harmless things? Aren’t they safer than sinful?

Think about this; who is the person furthest from God? Is it the one fed by the flesh? Is it the one taken with pride? Not always. Some of the worst kinds of sinners were drawn closest to Christ. Mary Magdalena is one example. Her own passion turned into a passion for Her beloved Savior. Paul's another, whose blaze of hate for Christians turned into a fire of love for Christ. And let’s not forget Peter. Whose fireside denial turned into a blaze of Pentecostal boldness.

Sometimes the hardest thing in the world to do…is to bring back the thoughtless.

The vapid.

The distracted.

The conscience numb.

In other words, those taken up with this world’s empty things.

What is the opposite of a calm ocean? Is it a stormy sea? No. It’s the stagnant pool. Why? Because the stagnant pool lacks motion. At least the sea may roil again. The stagnant pool only putrifies and dries up. Just like the unredeemed life. The danger in turning aside to empty things is that they are often unaccompanied by a sense of accountability, especially of time. Trifles do not trouble the conscience; they distract it by monopoly. Leading the heart farther and farther away from Christ. And where the waters of conscience are not troubled, there is no anxiousness to return.

Here, Christ’s words paint a self-portrait, "Thou has left thy first love.” Over time we lose our longings, crush our cravings, and abandon our desire for heavenly things. It’s just then we mistake:

quietness for peace,

deadness for decorum,

lethargy for life,

and the soul rests unconvinced of sin.

Why is this? Well, to bring us back to Samuel’s words, we have placed our treasure in a trifle, and the trifle has turned us aside. Oh, that the Lord would cause vain things to evaporate. That He would take away the empty things that distract us, and lay aside the baubles that stagnate our souls.