What then can the world give? If it tried, it could not give you anything that would last; it cannot give you anything better than air. It can give you nothing that can pass into eternity with you. What though it follow you with the trumpet of fame? That trumpet cannot be heard halfway across the Jordan. If all men in the world clapped their hands in your praise, not one angel, even on the very borders of the celestial world would observe the tumult of applause. The world can give you nothing you can carry with you. You are at the best a packhorse that shall carry its burden till it ends its journey, and then it must lie down and die. You do but carry a burden on your back, and verily, death shall unload you ere you are suffered to enter another world.
How different is Christ in His gifts! What He gives, He gives forever. When He bestows mercies, they are lasting things; no shadows does He give, but real substance—no fancies, but eternal realities does He bestow. Oh, men of this world, when your gold is melted—when your diamonds have dissolved into gas—when your estates have gone—when your hopes are lost, and when your goods are destroyed, then shall the people of God begin to know their riches; then shall they shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
— Charles H. Spurgeon (via ajamison)
