Garbage Mary

“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:15-17

“Garbage Mary,” as she was dubbed by the media, was picked up by the police in a shopping mall in Delray Beach, Florida. She was a filthy mess - and so were her car and her two-bedroom apartment. Neighbors told of her scrounging through garbage cans in search for food, which she took back to her apartment. Police found the garbage everywhere: in the refrigerator, in the stove, in the sink, in the cabinets - even in the bathtub.

But they found other things as well. They found Mobil Oil stock worth more that $400,000. They found documents indicating she owned oil fields in Kansas, stock certificates from prominent firms, and passbooks from eight large bank accounts. Police also discovered that Garbage Mary was the daughter of a well-to-do lawyer and bank director from Illinois, who had died several years earlier.

Garbage Mary was a millionaire, but she lived like a pauper. Great wealth was at her fingertips, but she spent her life sifting through garbage and trash. There is an obvious analogy here. Too many Christians waste their lives bedaubed with rubbish instead of wearing the royal robes of purity and holiness which their Father holds out to them. Why live like Garbage Mary when you can live like the child of the King. Claim your inheritance!