Not enough… but not nothing

Ecclesiastes 5:15

“Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.”

I recently read that when Alexander the Great died, they didn’t wrap his hands. (He’d requested unwrapped hands.) So, what was “the Great” taking with him? Nothing! Those hands were empty! In death, “the Great” was no better (or worse) than the lowliest servant. To put it differently, “the Great” was no better (or worse) than you or me.

While we can’t take anything in our hands when we leave this world, we can take “everything” in our hearts. In other words, the one thing that goes with us is our trust in God (or lack thereof). Believers in Jesus go to heaven! That God-worked faith goes with us, yes, even we our bodies cease to function, and our hands can carry nothing!

So might it make sense that on this side of eternity, we focus our attention not on filling our hands with stuff, but on filling our hearts with God’s Word, God’s love, God’s forgiveness? Of course it does! May Jesus grant that our focus be on heart-things, rather than hand-things!

Needing to have God fill my heart, just like you,

pastor