October 26, 2025
Happy Sunday,
We’re all friends here, so I’m trusting you with a confession: my gut response to the Louvre Museum heist was fascination (and dare I say amazement?) at the seeming success of the thieves. For a second, I was rooting for them. Who can pull something like that off? (Two of four suspects have reportedly been arrested; read the backstory here.)
Then I remembered that life isn’t an Oceans movie, France lost precious heirlooms, innocent people were scared witless, and greed is a very ugly thing. It’s got me thinking about how we respond to our insatiable desire for more and what the Lord has to say about it:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.”
1 John 2:15-17 (CSB)
Images of beautiful, desirable things and “the good life” are constantly dangled in front of us. But craving, lusting after, and taking pride in stuff—no matter how pretty—is not from God. What is? Contentment, generosity, and a God-ward gaze.
Let’s turn our eyes to Him now:
Our Holy One,
all good and beautiful things have origins in You.
Dazzling gems and gleaming gold and intricate craftsmanship
are a dim reflection of Your resplendence,
Glorious King of Creation.
You are pure and holy perfection,
but we are marred.
We confess that we are not so different from the thieves:
all that glitters has its grip on us.
We crave that which isn’t properly ours,
in direct disobedience to Your commandments.
We have treasured worldly things,
and they’ve dragged our hearts from You.
Turn us. Turn our gaze. Reclaim our affections.
Sovereign God,
This secret plot was not hidden from You.
You are not surprised or rattled,
and You haven’t lost track of a single stone.
Thank You for protecting the truly priceless workmanship in the room last week:
the souls You have made for Yourself.
Thank You for Jesus, in whom we have
eternal treasure that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
Our inheritance is not kept in a glass case so easily broken,
and it has no need of security guards.
Keeper of our Souls, our riches in heaven are in Jesus,
in whom we pray.
Amen.
Yours in Christ,
Steph Juliot
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