The Shallowness of Worldly Possessions

The possession of the whole world, and all that it contains, will never make a person happy. Its pleasures are false and deceptive. Its riches, rank, and honors, have no power to satisfy the heart. So long as we have not got them they glitter, sparkle, and seem desirable. The moment we have them we find that they are empty bubbles, and cannot make us feel content. And, worst of all, when we possess this world’s good things, to the utmost bound of our desire, we cannot keep them. Death comes in and separates us from all our property forever. Naked we came upon earth, and naked we go forth, and of all our possessions we can carry nothing with us. Such is the world, which occupies the whole attention of thousands! Such is the world, for the sake of which millions are every year destroying their souls!

~ J.C. Ryle

A Lesson on Contentment

A bishop of the early church who was a remarkable example of contentment was asked his secret. The old man replied, " It consists in nothing more than making a right use of my eyes. In whatever circumstance I am, I first of all look up to heaven and remember that my principal business here is to get there. I then look down upon the earth, and remember how small a place I shall occupy in it when I die and am buried. I then look abroad in the world and observe what multitudes there are who are in all respects more unhappy than myself. Thus I learn where true happiness is placed, where all our cares must end, and what little reason I have to complain."

~Author Unknown, Borrowed from 15 Minutes with God for Grandma, by Emilie Barnes