Empty Pockets!

You have all heard the old saying…….” You can’t take it with you.”  In other words what we have in this life is only good while we are alive and our “pockets” will not be with us in the next world.
               “Well”, you say.  “If I can’t take it with me then I’m not going!! “

Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.  We are here and this is your life now.  But at some point, (I hate to be gloomy) you and I will die.  People don’t like saying death.   Its more, “passing away”.  Sounds less foreboding. However, death is part of life, and we are aware of death now more than ever.  Having greater access to world events, we are confronted with death every day.

                So, when we die we die and that’s the end of it??

In answering this classic question, we learn a profound life lesson: the life of a righteous person continues even after their physical passing. Life is not the pleasures we encounter; those are transient, passing. What is permanent in life are those things that have made an impact in this world and on the lives of others.

                                                                Transient vs. Eternal

                     There are two contrasting perspectives regarding reality. 

 One approach suggests that if something cannot be perceived with any of the five senses, then it does not exist.  Only if you can see it, hear it, smell it, taste it or touch it, then it is real.

The other perspective is that anything that can be perceived with the senses is temporary. Here, today, gone tomorrow.  Only intangible experiences can represent eternity. 

A six-layer cake is delicious, but it’s not forever.  Its eaten today and nothing is left.
Life is not the pleasures we encounter, those are transient, passing.  What is permanent in life are those things that live after us.

One the other hand, the good and godly aspects of life are lasting.   Good deeds and contributions in this present world…….these are eternal values that will live after we are gone.

The teachings of Jeshua (Jesus) and His Jewish thinking will give us a proper prospective.  The issue of life and death was also on the minds of His followers.

Although the body is interred in the ground, the soul, the true consciousness of the person, the essence of the person, lives on forever.  In the Jewish mind, at some point the soul will be united with the body.  We will be known and will know others.

He told the thief on the cross that he would be given a resting place in Paradise.  We are told about judgements.  We are told to perform acts of kindness to those who need our help or encouragement.  The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, gives us an idea of lasting values.

                                So, what is transient and what is eternal?

  It’s our acts of kindness to those who need help or encouragement; going to the world and making disciples; our study of Scripture. These are to be our guiding light. 

                May we all be blessed to lead lives that engage us in the eternal!