Money You Can Take With You

We brought nothing into the world, neither can we carry anything out.--I Tim. 6: 7.

“There are no pockets in a shroud.” “You can’t take it with you.” Men sometimes quote one or both these old sayings when warned against wasting money, or when by waste and extravagance they have been reduced to poverty.

Let me cite one example, the case of a rich New Yorker. He was an important figure in the metropolis. He was a millionaire. He owned a great house in the city, a big country place, saddle horses, a yacht, and all the trimmings. In the course of time he lost it all, spent his last days at a shabby hotel, never sure of where his next meal was coming from. How was he brought down to such circumstances? By reckless waste, largely by gambling. One night, in a couple of hours, he lost a good sized fortune playing roulette in a gambling house. When a friend mentioned to him his loss, and reminded him of how he had brought it on himself, he smiled wanly, and said:

“Well, you can’t take it with you.”

That old saying provides no excuse for wasting money. Rather, it suggests a reason for investing it in good works.

It is true you can t take your money with you, not in its present form. But you can change some of it into another form which you can take with you. You can change some of it into the coin that will be current in heaven. You can use your money in Christian service, and thus accumulate an account in heaven’s bank, “where moth and rust doth not consume, where thieves do not break through and steal” (Matt. 6: 20)--where gambling houses and roulette tables cannot touch it.

“You can t take it with you.” If you are wise, you will use some of your money, while you have it, to make for yourself friends in redeemed men and women--friends who will be your friends in the everlasting habitations (Luke 16:9).

Remember the old tombstone epitaph: “What I used I had; what I saved I left behind; what I gave away I took with me.”

Give away some of your money to bring relief to the poor and needy, to help carry on Christ’s redeeming work. That will be money you can take with you.