Raging Fires

At least 25 people are dead and thousands of homes destroyed as numerous wildfires continue to rage in California. In the Los Angelos area alone, four separate fires have burned more than 60 square miles, and continue to elude containment and threaten life and limb. While the primary efforts remain focused on rescue and containment, officials are also working to determine a cause for each fire.

Analysis and eternal perspective: This story is a stark and sobering reminder that everything of this Earth—including our life—can be lost in a moment. Tens of thousands of Californians find themselves suddenly displaced or without a home, and millions of Californians remain under the threat of the ongoing fires.

While there is precious little that can be done to prevent this kind of threat to physical property, Jesus spoke very specifically in the Sermon on the Mount about how to build a life on a foundation in Him that would withstand life’s storms and challenges (Matt. 7:24-27).

How much of your time and mental energy is spent worrying about things that will pass away? If you are like me, the answer is a great deal! As you pray for—and act on behalf of—those being impacted by the fires, take inventory of where you can better allocate your time and treasure!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21).

The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.

Thann Bennett

Thann Bennett is the Founder and President of Every Good Work, which exists to equip Jesus followers for a life of impact. His weekly newsletter, The Equipped, helps Jesus followers engage current events through a lens of the True and the beautiful. Thann and his wife, Brooke, are co-Founders of A Fearless Life, which works to find and fund a family for every adoption-eligible foster child in America. Thann has more than two decades of high-level public policy experience, with a particular focus on the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. He is the author of In Search of the King and My Fame His Fame. Thann and Brooke live in southern Maryland with their three children: Jude, Gambrell, and Hope, as well as a host of farm animals. The Bennetts are longtime members of the National Community Church family in Washington, D.C.

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