James 4:13-17
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
Psalms 39:4-7
Our Time on Earth is Fleeting
4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
even those who seem secure.
6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;
in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth
without knowing whose it will finally be.
7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:1
About Being Famous and Known on Earth
1 Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
John 14:2
Jesus Will Prepare a Place for Us
2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
John 17:3
This is Eternal Life
3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
I think the soul and the heart seem to be two very important things we have for our connection to our Father and His Son...Jesus wants us to use our hearts our earth in a divine-type way...He wants them to be used and full of love...Without a heart and love -it makes for negative life...But a heart full of love is a full life...
St. James tells us about our time on earth...He says it is like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes...The Psalmist tells us the our lives are fleeting and our days are a mere length of our very own hand...Life is but a breath...Our lives go by very quickly on earth, and the older we get, it seems like the quicker time goes by...Our lives on earth are finite and limited...Our lives on earth are not eternal and not infinite...
Jesus teaches us all about His Father...Jesus teaches the eternities...He teaches us about real treasures...He teaches us about eternal life...He also says that the true treasures on earth are those things stored in your heart...The heart (along with our soul), while we are on earth, may be the closest things we have to relate to heaven and to His Kingdom...The body has many members and parts...But it is the heart that Jesus focuses on...When Jesus teaches us about treasures, we see that it is our heart that is what gets the importance in His teachings...The things stored in the heart are the Divine things of sentiment, faith, hope, and love...He teaches us for where our heart is, is where we will be...Only in our hearts are the things that cannot be stolen and taken away from you or me...
Life (then) is not about the length of time we have on earth, but in Jesus' teachings -and how much we follow God and love God and get to know God -and store these things about God in our hearts...When our heart is filled with the faith of God, the Love of God, and the hope of God -we are close to God...We are close to having a Divine Heart and are closer to our Father and His Son...
How much money or material things we leave our families or relatives or friends meant very little, if anything to Jesus...When He teaches us about being secretive about giving, He does not care for us to leave even a lasting name or our name on a big project or hospital or some other building -when we do good deeds...It is very important for us and our lives to be guiding our way toward God and His Kingdom...And it is the heart, and what is in our hearts (alone) -that takes on this importance...The act of giving and the act of righteousness was good -and that act is enough in His eyes...Or good acts do not have to be seen by other men and women...It is not about life on earth...It is all about this always moving forward toward God and His kingdom, and getting to know Him -that is what Jesus' teaches to us that is important (and to keep storing in our hearts)...And when we know God and know His Son -now that is actually eternal life...I think then, that we have filled our hearts with the right things...Then Heaven awaits us...