Monday 5 June 2017

You can't take it with you

There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt. But those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he return, To go as he came; And he shall take nothing from his labour Which he may carry away in his hand.  - Ecclesiastes 5:13-15

It doesn’t take long for humans to begin exerting self will and make demands. We sta are born needing, but it doesn’t take too long to start wanting. You can watch very young children reaching out to get what they want when they want it. All through childhood you watch children and they want what they other kids have even when their hands are full already. Then we grow into adulthood and we are still out to get more of what we want.

And I guess there is nothing working with gathering stuff and filling our wants. But we must keep one thing in mind. When it is all said and done and they lower us in the grave we will leave this world with exactly what we had when we arrived. Nothing. When we die we take nothing with us. Our family may gain – but we get nothing.

We must always keep in mind that as we gather our good and build our storehouses to store more goods that tomorrow is the day we may very well be held accountable for our souls – and all we have gathered will mean nothing.

We can’t keep our hearts and minds and focus and on these earthly, visible, temporary things, for they are all passing away. We can’t take a single thing with us. But our soul will go with us. It is eternal. What we do with it is forever.

Be careful not to be caught up in all the stuff that is so important now. It will all be gone one day.

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