W W W . S A I N T E R S E C T I O N . O R G
2
� A P R I L 2 O 1 5
You Can't
Take It
With You?
Y C '
W
hat would you say if I told you that there is some-
thing you can take with you to Heaven? You would
probably respond, "Yeah, right!" But if you take
the words of Jesus as true, you can believe it.
Of course, we don't know what Heaven will be like. We
can imagine. We can hazard a guess. But no matter how
much we speculate what joys await us for eternity, we fall
far short.
All we can be sure of in Heaven is what we are
told in God's love letter to us, the Bible.
Christ died
and rose again from the dead so that we could enter into
the Paradise He spoke of so much about during His three
years of ministry.
God wants us with Him.
That's what it all boils down
to. We become born again in order to spend forever with
our Heavenly Father. Not just for the pleasures we'll enjoy.
Not for what mysteries God will reveal to us. Not even just
to escape the torments of Hell.
It's all about living with God.
That's how it was in
the beginning, in the Garden of Eden: a sweet fellowship
between the Creator and His prize creation. Our Father
went through great pains to get us back to the environment
He wants to share with us.
Remember that the valuable things of earth are of
no value in Heaven.
The fl ip side of that statement is also
true: the things held precious in Heaven are of no interest to
those on earth who are living without God in their lives.
So what about the pearly gates, huge luxurious man-
sions and streets paved with gold?
What is it that Jesus says we can take with us?
You may have heard the joke about the fellow who was
told he could pack any one thing into a suitcase to take
with him to Heaven. After much thought, he exchanged all
his personal assets for gold bars and packed his suitcase.
When he arrived at the pearly gates, the joke goes,
St. Peter took a peak into the fellow's suitcase and ex-
claimed, "Asphalt? You brought asphalt?!" After all, they
say the streets in Heaven are paved with gold.
In John 4:36, Jesus makes a promise: "The harvesters
are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people
brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter
and the harvester alike!"
Forget money and possessions.
That's not what He
means. Jesus is offering to us a chance to make a differ-
ence both here and hereafter. If you are His follower, you
have the chance to harvest souls for His precious sake.
Helping others escape the horrors of Hell and gain an eter-
nity in Heaven with the Father is an investment you will be
glad you made.
So forget the asphalt; start concentrating on a
fruitful harvest!