What can you bring when you die?

The Book of Ecclesiastes which our first reading comes from is attributed to
King Solomon, who was quite simply the wealthiest man that ever lived in the
history of the Israelites. Here he is telling us something that we hear
quite frequently from the lips of wealthy philanthropists. They have
discovered what he discovered thousands of years ago - that wealth does not
buy happiness, and that money has no real value.

A friend was remarking to me the other day that what the money that we
spend, is nothing more than a piece of paper with some value attributed to
it. It itself is just a piece of paper, of no real value at all. One of the
many definitions of the word 'vanity' is: lack of real value, such as the
vanity of a selfish life. A life that is led in selfishness, which means
only concerned for ourselves, has no real value at all. Why is this so?

For one thing, everything that we have that we think belongs to us, doesn't.
Because we cannot bring it with us when we die. There are some things that
we can indeed bring with us to heaven, but wealth is not one of them. Some
of the things that can be brought over to the afterlife include
relationships. If we have made several lasting friendships, these
friendships are still going to be around in the afterlife. Granted that
Jesus has once told us that there is no marriage in heaven, the special
relationship that we share with our earthly spouse will still be there in
heaven.

Two kinds of relationships will continue to exist after the end of our
mortal existence. The first kind is relationship with other people. The
second kind is relationship with God. The first kind of relationship will
continue in the afterlife, but the second kind will become even richer in
the afterlife, because we will be able to experience God as he really is. If
you have had some kind of divine experience with God in your life, you know
what I am talking about. That is just a glimpse of what heaven will be like.

So what must we do to work towards this heavenly afterlife? Most of us
already know. We need to change our priorities in life. First, we need to
establish what we can bring over to the afterlife, and what we cannot. Then
we need to use wisely the things that we cannot bring over, to develop those
that we can bring over. Use money, that tainted thing, to win you friends,
Jesus has told us. Give to the poor and those in need of the money, because
even if you cannot receive thanks from them in this life, you will receive
it in the afterlife. And in the meantime, these people will be praying for
you.

In short, the route to heaven does not lie within ourselves. We do not get
to heaven by serving ourselves. We get to heaven by serving God and by
serving others. Let us therefore use what we have to develop what we will be
able to hold on to after we die.
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Prayer:
Dear Lord, please grant us the wisdom to discern that which we can take with
us when we die, and that which must be left behind. Grant us also the wisdom
to use our material possessions to build up our heavenly wealth. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: Showing us the promise of our eternal
destination through your resurrection and ascension into heaven.