Empty-Handed

Recently, as he had requested, a man’s ashes were buried in the driver’s seat of his Corvette, along with a tape in the cassette deck, ready to play a favorite song. He was so obsessed with his car that he had bought twelve burial plots to be sure this arrangement could be made.

His wife commented that the man “always said he lived a fabulous life, and he went out in a fabulous style. You have a lot of people saying they want to take it with them. He took it with him.”

He had made his priorities clear. But what would God think?

Throughout history, many have made special arrangements to commemorate their death. Cemeteries are filled with monuments, plaques, and memorials.

This concern was exemplified by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs for whom tombs were designed filled with objects for them to bring into the “afterlife.” Items such as furniture, jewelry, clothes, food, and even makeup.

The tomb of Tutankhamun included a camping bed that folded up so he could take it with him on a future journey he imagined.

It certainly may be appropriate to remember and honor those who have gone before us. But as Job discovered, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.

The Lord gave me what I had” (Job 1:21).

The Bible reminds us that God sees everything about our lives. That “nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable” (Hebrews 4:13).

In your life, remember this eternal perspective. How does God look on your choices? How have you invested all that He has given you?