“Eternity is the now that doesn’t pass away.” Augustine

One of the hardest activities I’ve ever done was being responsible for the items of a person who went home to be with Jesus.

While rejoicing for them, I knew the difficult task that lay ahead – going through their “things” to determine what the family wanted, what others might want (thrift stores) and what no one would want (trash).

All of their items held value to them. They had been willing to exchange units of their life (minutes, hours, days, months, sometimes even years) to earn the money to purchase those items that were now in our possession.

However, many of their “things” ended up in the local dump. This is the harsh reality of the truth, “You can’t take it with you.” The only “thing” we can take with us is Spirit developed Jesus character.

Yet, we spend an inordinate amount of life units on our thoughts, the “stuff” we allow to bounce around in our heads, which leads to character formation that ends up in the dumpster (1 Cor. 3:11-15).

I wish I knew years ago what I know now.  But…I didn’t. So, the only question is, “Are the thoughts I currently have, worth investing my life units into now?”

We’ve got to be honest with ourselves, though. When our thoughts are exposed to the light of truth, it’s “easier” to hold onto them. The known is a lot more comfortable than the unknown, even though we now know it’s dumpster material.

The disciples, except for Peter, were comfortable with their dumpster character (fear-based choice to stay in the boat) than with becoming like Jesus to experience walking on the water.

We can enjoy a little of eternity now by choosing to trash our comfortably known dumpster thinking by becoming more like Jesus to walk where only Jesus can…on the water.