Jake loved to race to the end of the fence snarling and barking fiercely, doing his duty, guarding the junkyard. One night a young man broke into the junkyard and Jake treed him on top of a pile of junked cars. The man jumped inside of an old car and spent the night. The next morning Mr. T pulled Jake off and freed the young man.

Jake spent his entire life guarding a junkyard. Some people act just like a junkyard dog – they spend their life guarding junk rusting in their hearts and lives.

My grandpa Os had a fence row lined with about 30 old cars – Packard’s, Hudson’s, Kaisers, Studebakers, and an Edsels. He intended to eventually restore or sell them. As kids we loved to play in them. Grandpa Os passed away. Then I went off to college. One summer when I returned home, I was dismayed to find that my grandmother had sold the old cars to a scarp dealer for $5 to $15 a car. “They were just rusting away,” she said.

The next time you get a chance to drive by a junkyard, look at all of the junked cars that have found a resting place there. Many of them were expensive in their day. Their owners took out loans and worked long hours to pay for them. Look where those prized cars are now.

Sometimes we act like a junkyard dog guarding our treasures here on earth – treasures that will rust, be eaten by moths, or be stolen by thieves. Jesus admonishes us to store up treasures in heaven where they will never become moth-eaten, rusty, or stolen. (Matthew 6:19-21) What are your priorities? “Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

We fiercely guard our hearts. We fear rejection, ridicule, or abuse. We put up fences and walls and act like junkyard dogs daring anyone, even God, to get close. What a miserable existence some people live because they will not let down their walls and “de-fences”. People guard themselves in many different ways. It could be with anger, verbal abuse, pretending that all is fine, avoidance, or amassing material possessions that will rust away, tarnish, and not satisfy.

It’s interesting that Jesus never guarded or defended himself. The Word of God says that He entrusted Himself to God the Father in everything. He was abused, but entrusted everything, including himself to the One who judges fairly. (I Peter 2:23) Jesus went about doing God’s business – doing good and curing all who were oppressed by the devil.

Let us entrust ourselves totally to God and get busy doing His work, instead of spending all of our time and endeavors trying to protect ourselves or guarding earthly treasures. When we let down our walls and self-constructed fences, God will come in.

We don’t need to defend ourselves like a junkyard dog. Jesus will become our Advocate – our Lawyer – the one who will plead our case if we will trust in His sacrifice on the cross. (I John 2:1-2) Let Jesus be your defense. (Revelation 12:11) He is the treasure that will last forever.

Anything but Jesus will not last. The Apostle Paul concluded, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet, indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, My Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:7-9 NKJV).

Open your heart to God and put forth faith in the Treasure that will last forever.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have ever lasting life” (John 3:16).