You Can't Take It With You; Or Can You?

If you are like me, you do not think as much of ALL the actions and thoughts you give to be obedient to the Lord in everything. You consider your efforts, especially when you believe them to be less than pristine, somewhat stumbling, halting, and lacking skill, to be worth forgetting and so much chaff to be blown away by the wind into a meaningless void. Not so from what is revealed to us by the mind of God in His Word. My wife and I have been reading an excellent book by Randy Alcorn entitled, Heaven. We recommend it to you for a great resource to turn your focus heavenward. Not so that you are of no earthly good, but so that your sojourn on earth will respond more to your prayer to be renewed by God’s grace in being made “more fit for heaven.
Alcorn quotes Bruce Milne in his 13^th chapter with a statement that is well worth your meditation: “Every kingdom work, whether publicly performed or privately endeavored, partakes of the kingdom’s imperishable character. Every honest intention, every stumbling word of witness, every resistance of temptation, every motion of repentance, every gesture of concern, every routine engagement, every motion of worship, every struggle towards obedience, every mumbled prayer, everything, literally, which flows out of our faith-relationship with the Ever-living One, will find its place in the ever-living heavenly order which will dawn at His coming. Read that again. It is a worthy truth to plant in your mind as you consider your everyday schedule of tasks, some great, most small, and most belittled in your perspective, at least as they count for the kingdom on into eternity.
The Bible refers to our every thought, our every deed, our every work, not being lost in the wind or some black hole, but being placed under judgment. Judgment is not by any means all negative. “Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. (I Corinthians 3:13) Our tendency is to think only of those things we consider some great and noticeable work while belittling the halting efforts to obey, the less than eloquent attempt at witness, the prayer that rushes into our mind as we undertake a routine task, the heart motivation to repentance even when we think the sin trivial; all of this is kingdom work that is part of an imperishable kingdom. When the Bible talks about building on our efforts toward righteousness and obedience, it is referring to what we consider small and inconsequential activity which we hopefully begin to think of as nevertheless imperishable, not meaningless chaff. As our perspective matures with the very next activity or thought we build upon the last and think, “Yes, my Father is retaining even this in His imperishable kingdom; may I not belittle even the smallest effort to hunger after righteousness.
Our memories fail us as we go through many daily activities which we consider as just so much irrelevance to the major priorities of life. Our memories sharpen when we are able to see all of life, all of our thoughts, and all of our efforts as part of imperishable kingdom work; building on what preceded and becoming ever more conscious that all of life is a part of taking on the righteousness of Christ even in the most menial things. If God is always paying attention, if He never sleeps, we His children should be counting all things as worthy of remembrance and reward in His imperishable kingdom.
Be certain of this: products of faithful lives will endure, even those products which only God and you are aware.