What You Gain Here Stays Here

We can't take anything with us when we die. You've probably heard it way too many times. But has it become a reality to you?

I was at my bank last week looking into some savings options and as I'm trying to understand everything being explained to me, the lady suddenly asks, "If you die and go to heaven, who do you want all your money to go to?" I was taken back to say the least. That question didn't sit well with me and I it certainly wasn't something I wanted to answer. But I had to. I had to decide who I wanted to have my money when I died. I hated doing that.

Now, I know life is short. I've been reminded of that again this past month. I'm not guaranteed a long life, but I live like I am. I plan, I think, I save. But the truth is, when I die, everything I have accumulated in my lifetime I'll leave behind. What I gain here stays here.

I've been studying Ecclesiastes with some girls and this is one of the topics that came up.

Ecclesiastes 2: 18-21 (ESV)
I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it.

Basically, when we leave this world, everything we own and worked for goes to somebody who didn't work for it. And on top of that, you have no idea what they're going to do with it. How fair is that? But how does that affect the way we live? I don't go to work thinking my money's going to go to someone else. That's not the plan. But one day, it will.

Keeping this in mind, how does it can change the way you live? Because what you gain here, you have to leave here.