Devotionals

You Can't Take It With You

by Tammy Ortung 
09/04/24
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We are merely moving shadows, and all of our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. Psalm 39:6-7 NLT

I balance the cup of coffee in my hand and relax in my gray pushback chair, smiling as the sun creeps through the previously overcast sky–and ponder my mortality. I find myself doing this more and more lately. And, today, after reading this passage, I question, once again, decisions I’ve made.

Well, not every decision. I know Jesus is Lord and that my eternal destiny is secure. Yet with each passing year, I find the scales falling from my eyes and just like Solomon–and his father before him–God reveals just how meaningless and fleeting this life is.

A few years ago, I officially became a Senior citizen. A stage of life where I am surrounded by death: the passing of parents, grandparents, beloved aunts and uncles, and even good friends. And with each passing, I mourn as the next generation squanders (or doesn't appreciate) the wealth of loved ones who worked their whole lives for things they never enjoyed and couldn’t take with them.

Generation after generation, we struggle to find security in this world: we accumulate more things, cultivate thriving businesses, and build larger investment portfolios. Yet if we stopped to look around, we would see evident markers that the end is near! It’s past time for us to get our priorities right.

So, what about you? Will you heed the warnings of a man after God’s own heart? Or the wisest man on earth? Instead of storing up meaningless treasures on earth that will, by necessity, be left behind for others to reap the rewards, will you turn your attention to heavenly pursuits?

What is God calling you to do today?