How about a little switch in musical genre today as we listen to a bluegrass song by Ricky Skaggs entitled You Can’t Take It with You When You Go. Here’s a little bit of the lyrics that will whet your appetite for today’s devotional:
All the treasures in this world don’t mean a thing when they lay ya low,
‘Cause you can’t take it with you when ya go.
Work is a good thing and Christians need to work harder than anyone in the workplace. Paul gives us some 21st century work-ethic principles from the 1st century world when he writes, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3:23-24). Therefore, work hard if you are an employee or if you are self-employed, but keep your head screwed on straight. Don’t let your ego, money, or possessions become your god. Enjoy some of the things in this life. Give to bless others. Make life about the eternal riches in heaven not the temporary riches on earth. Stop and smell the roses and remember there are no trailer hitches on the back of funeral home cars.
Read Matthew 6:19-24 and I Timothy 6:17-19. Then listen to You Can’t Take It with You When You Go by Ricky Skaggs. Then work like crazy but keep your head screwed on straight!!!
Matthew 6:19-24
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
1 Timothy 6:17-19
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.