Bible Reading: Philippians 3:4-11

"Dad, my glasses broke!" Levi said.

"Let me see," said Dad. "It looks like a screw needs tightening. I think I can fix them."

"I wish I could get new glasses like Justin's," Levi said. "The ones he got are really cool. He's always getting new things, and kids crowd around him to see his new stuff. With glasses like that, I'd be important like Justin."

"Well, let's see what we can do with these," said Dad. He set Levi's glasses on his workbench and reached for his toolbox. "For a job this important, I'll use my best tools." Dad lifted out a tray of screwdrivers, all of them in good condition. Dad was a carpenter, and he took good care of his tools. He pushed the tray toward Levi. "Which one should we use?"

Levi looked through the tray of short, long, wide, and narrow screwdrivers. None of them was the right size for the tiny screw. "None of these will work," he said.

"Are you sure?" asked Dad. "These are my very best tools."

"But they aren't the right ones for the job," said Levi.

"You're right." Dad pulled a tiny screwdriver out of a drawer and used it to tighten the small screw. "You know, getting new stuff to make us feel important is like using the wrong tool for the job. New stuff gets old and breaks, or someone else gets something better or more exciting than what we have. We might even find that other people just think our stuff is important and not us."

"So if getting new stuff is the wrong way to feel important, what's the right tool we should use?" asked Levi.

"The only way to truly feel loved and important is by receiving Jesus's gift of eternal life and embracing our identity in Him. He died and rose again to make us God's children, and that's a gift that will never break or wear out. Nothing will ever come along that's better. We're always loved and important to Him."

Dad handed Levi the repaired glasses, and Levi put them on. "Thanks, Dad," he said. "I can see much better now--and I see I'm important to Jesus. No new stuff needed."

–Heidi J. Schmidt