He is No Fool

“For we brought nothing into this world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.” 1 Timothy 6:7

It is amazing how some of us live as if we will stay on this side of the world forever. Some amass wealth, property here and abroad, jewelry, old master paintings, and who knows what else. I come from a line of hoarders. My mom filled our attic rooms with craft materials she never was able use up in her lifetime. My aunt has a house overflowing with clothes, bags, shoes and figurines. I myself have all sorts of junk I can’t bear to throw away. I like reusing old styrofoam, clothes, ribbons, magazine pages, toilet paper rolls, even blister packs! 

Some years ago, I helped my sister and brother-in-law sort through the things in the house of my brother-in-law’s parents. His father had already passed away, and his mom stayed with him. There were piles and piles of clothing, towels, bedsheets, curtains, lots of kitchen ware, furniture and decor and souvenirs from all around the world. It was all worth a huge amount of money and now it was being sold in a garage sale for a pittance. Looking at it, what kept running through my mind was: You can only keep what you give away. 

C.S. Lewis wrote, “The only things we can keep are the things we freely give to God. What we try to keep for ourselves is just what we are sure to lose.” And Jim Elliot, who died a martyr trying to evangelize heathens, wrote in his notebook, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” If only we learn this early enough to do something about it!