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Tag: second coming

  • Mountain Time – thoughts on stewardship

    Mountain Time – thoughts on stewardship

    A cliff face in Manning Park near Skagit Valley Trail - some thoughts on stewardship

    Late last week, we took a road trip to Manning Park for a walk along the Skagit River Trail. We needed some fresh air, some mountain time, and a touch of snow (but not on our streets or driveway). It’s just over an hour’s drive away, so it’s relatively handy.

    I find that when I get out in nature, it often clears my head (as well as my lungs) and helps me “see and hear” God more easily. I took this shot of a nearby cliff face from where we parked. Even through the haze, it’s beautiful.

    That mountain has stood there for a long time. It looks as if it will still stand there for a long time. Yet the face is slowly changing. Erosion and rockslides are subtly recarving the face. We live in an area prone to earthquakes and with active volcanoes; either could totally transform the mountain.

    Even the things we consider rock solid don’t last forever. We live in a broken world that is destined for destruction. The day will come when even the mountains and the oceans will burn up.

    “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”  2 Peter 3:10

    If everything will be destroyed, why bother trying to preserve any of it? Humankind was put on this little blue planet, third from the sun, to steward it.

    And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:28 

    “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15

    We have been appointed to a God-given task to steward a part of His kingdom. Its eventual disposition is in the hands of the owner, but in the interim, we manage it until His return. 

    I’m reminded of the parable of the talents (or minas) where the master gives the servants responsibility for a certain sum, and there is an accounting when he returns. (Matthew 25:14–30, Luke 19:11–27)

    How well will we fare when the master returns and we face a review of our stewardship? Not well in general.

    I’m not suggesting we all become earth worshippers; that’s a sin. Simply that we could all make small changes to be better stewards.

    What are your thoughts? Have you ever compared our stewardship to those parables before?

    Be blessed

    Kevin

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    All contents, “Gleanings From the Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2026 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, “Gleanings From the Word.”

    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.

  • The things we value most will be left behind – We gain everything

    The things we value most will be left behind – We gain everything

    row of rusty pickups

    The farmyard had many rusty old trucks. It seems likely the owner was a collector (or perhaps ‘accumulator’ would be a better term), as they had rows of them.

    There were a few cars, but I mainly noticed pickup trucks. There were a lot of them from the fifties and sixties. There was even the odd one from the 40s or earlier. 

    These trucks were, at one point, the pride and joy of their owners. They had that new vehicle smell that so many people find appealing. They were bright and shiny, freshly painted, and certainly wouldn’t have been cheap to buy.

    Over the years, the paint faded, the bodies got dinged and dented, and the new-car smell gave way to the smell of the owner’s lifestyle. Eventually, they broke down or wore out and were just left in the field to rust.

    Eventually, they will rust away into nothingness. The elements gradually eat away the steel until nothing remains.

    Now I understand the need for a vehicle, and I know that they usually reach a point where they are no longer worth repairing. Seeing so many of their rusted old bodies, though, made me think about the Lord’s coming. Our possessions will be left behind.

    He’s coming again for His people.

    “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14 

    The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:63-64

    Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. Revelation 1:7

    All the “things” we value so highly, all the accomplishments we’re so proud of, all the “stuff” and accolades we’ve accumulated, will at that moment become even less valuable than those rusted old hulks sitting in the field. It will be left behind, exchanged for something far more valuable.

    Where are your priorities? Are the things that will be left behind when you die, or He comes again first in your life? Or have you accumulated treasures in heaven that won’t rust away and won’t be left behind when you go?

    Until next time, may your focus be on the things of His kingdom.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

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    All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word. 

    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.