A Vapor That Vanishes

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:2-4)

Grace Gems 09/22/14

How much did he leave?

(J.R. Miller, "The Shining Light" 1911)

"What is a man profited, if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Matthew 16:26

That is putting the case in its most favorable light. The whole world is the largest possible gain. But suppose a man does get the whole world . . .
  it cannot keep him from pain or trouble;
  it cannot give him peace of conscience;
  it cannot comfort him in sorrow;
  it cannot make a soft pillow for him when he is dying;
  it cannot purchase Heaven for him when he is gone.

All he can do with the world, after he has it, is to keep it for a short time until he dies--he cannot carry any part of it with him to eternity.

"How much did he leave?" asked one, referring to a millionaire who had just died. "Every cent!" was the reply. He left all. So it is easy to see that there is no profit--but rather a fearful and eternal loss, in gaining even all the world at the price of one's soul."Then the rich man said: 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.' 
And I'll say to myself: 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry!' 
But God said to him: 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." Luke 12:18-21

Addition Dr. Morris: 

This writer is a veteran of the Korean Conflict, I was a teenager during WW2. My father, all my uncles, even some cousins, had gone to war. My mother's parents, old and disabled trying to hold on to their farm while their only son was at war in the South Pacific. A cousin, large landowner, said, "If the war lasts a little longer, I will be able to wallpaper my barns with $20 bills." I could not help but think of these words when I attended his funeral, empty hands in an expensive casket. 

It makes no difference how rich you are, Queen of England, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, you leave this world with empty hands AND, that final breath you cannot buy one second more. Life is a vapor that vanishes very quickly and in the cemetery, there are as many short graves as long graves. Great missionary C.T. Studd once said, "Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last."