Sermon Illustrations

BOOMERANGS AND GREED

The world we live in says, "Grab on, hold tightly, squeeze till get what you want." Jesus teaches a paradox: "You can never touch what you grab for, and you can’t keep what you think you’re holding. As soon as you think you have piled up the good life – made your mark – it will come crashing down like the Twin Towers on 9-11. Wanting to be served, we lose it all."

A well-known fact about a boomerang is, once thrown, it returns to the thrower. The least remembered fact is that the boomerang is intended to be a weapon and only returns if it misses the target. I can keep thinking I’m throwing myself at life with more effort, wisdom, money, more, more, more – and it will somehow change all in my favor. But instead I find everything I’ve thrown has missed the target of a better life and comes back slightly more used than when I threw it. The paradox is that, in keeping our lives, building our lives, and living our lives for ourselves, we waste all the life that is in us.

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