... he has come to steal, kill and destroy...

Salzburg, Austria... this is a picture of the open-air theatre on the front stairs of the Salzburg cathedral... one of the plays that has been performed there during the time of the Salzburg Festival held every summer, since 1920 is the play "Jedermann" ( Everyman) from Hugo von Hofmannsthal...
it must have been in 1990 that I had the privilege to see this play right there with my family..
Jedermann, a rich and stingy man ( like the Scrooge: cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy ) who is visited by Death, announcing that he will come and get him soon....I don't remember all the details anymore but what stayed with me was that Jedermann at one point in time sells his soul to the devil in order to have a long and prosperous life.. at the end of his life though he is a miserable, cold hearted man who is tormented by Satan, who owns his soul... before Death finally takes him he has to stand before his Maker and is held accountable for the choices he made in his life.. in the play he repents, makes amends and is forgiven..

remembering that even then I saw the relevance of this "morality play" ... so very relevant .. I guess that's why the main character is called "Everyman"....

Jedermann is a rich guy and confronted with the choice who he will worship, he chooses money / the devil... rather than God..

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money... ( Luke 16:13)

deciding to serve "money" instead of God... not sure if people are even aware they are making that choice.. a need for significance is the driving force behind it.. materialism is just one of the things that play right into this.. if I want more and more and more I eventually find myself in a place where I am deciding against what God in His wisdom has put up as limits and rules....I will end up lying, cheating and betraying because of greed ...

all of that has been happening all around me and what made me think about this today is how sad it is that Satan eventually will come and demand his "payment".. while there might have been many years of bliss because of all that money can buy, eventually and this is a sure thing, Satan will have fun torturing the ones he tricked into serving money, instead of realizing their need for a relationship with God..

to watch a "Jedermann" who had found his identity solely in what he accomplished and owned get old, depressed and empty... the cold heart lonely and shrivelled away... is very, very sad...
praying that for the ones I am thinking of right now there will still be a happy ending.. like in the play, I pray that God would step in and make them take a good look at the decisions they made..
that they would recognize their need for something money cannot buy... something they cannot control or manipulate, something that only requires a contrite and broken spirit, a spirit that acknowledges the need for a Saviour and will accept the gift of forgiveness gladly...
there are no u-hauls behind a hearse... eternal significance is only found in a relationship with God...
not in power, position or possessions...

let's be on guard ... Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour... ( 1 Peter 5:8 )