(P)Review Bible Study: 1 Timothy 6:6-19...You Can't Take It With You...But Folks Sure Have Tried

     Billy Standley of Mechanicsburg Ohio may have just won the prize for "taking it with you"...or at the very least he sure did a good job trying.  
    A few years ago Bill was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and as he had enjoyed a long and happy life,  he was determined to have a memorable send off into the next one.  In Bill's words, it was "not enough to ride off to heaven."  He wanted everyone to see him take the trip.  So, he arranged with a local funeral home to have himself buried on his beloved 1967 Electra-Glide Harley. Now some folks would have been satisfied merely going that extra mile, but not Billy, nope.  He wanted to not only be buried on his beloved bike, he wanted to take one final ride...one that everyone else would get to see, on his way to the cemetery.  
    So Bill's sons got to work building him a custom Plexiglas casket in which to set his bike, with him astride, to take his final ride.  He also got permission from the county to be interred in this special coffin while sitting on his bike. And he hired a truck to tow it to the cemetery.  When friends would come over to the house Bill liked to take them out too the workshop to take a look at the big Plexiglas box.
    Eventually the time came and everything worked just like he planned; Bill took that bike with him.  I will spare you the pictures (of which there are many) because I know some folks get squeamish around the dead.  But if you want to see it for yourself, you can take a peek here.

    I know some people think of the pyramids and the Pharaohs when they think of trying to take it with them, but the guy on the Harley is my new favorite.  Anyone can build a pile of bricks, that guy actually rode to his own funeral!  Of course if we are being honest I am pretty sure that no matter how well intentioned the gesture I doubt the act of being interred on a motorcycle is sufficient to actually get to take it to heaven. (although it was still really cool) In fact St. Paul (that killjoy) writes:

    1 Timothy 6:6-10:          Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

    We brought nothing into this world, so that we can take nothing out includes sweet, vintage Harley Davidson motorcycles.  I am going to level with you, I cannot read the following quote in any voice but Anthony Hopkins':  

    OK.  C.S. Lewis' point, like St. Paul's is simple:  there is nothing so valuable in this world that it would have any meaningful value in the next, so why are we all so excited and obsessed with the stuff of this life?  

     When sorting through some of my late Grandmother's effects I recently came across some Japanese currency from their occupation of the Philippines.  The residents of the Philippines at the time called it Mickey Mouse Money.  Here is what one of the bills looked like:

    The people in the Philippines called it Mickey Mouse Money because when the Japanese government tried to force it on them as part of the occupation by flooding the market with tens of millions of Japanese Pesos it became about as valuable as toy money.  After the briefest period of circulation you would literally have to pack suitcases full of millions of Japanese Pesos to go to the store to buy a loaf of bread.  The massive dump of currency into the Philippine financial system caused immense inflation making the bills almost worthless. So too are the things of this world in the Kingdom of God.  

    Everything in the Kingdom of God is worth so much more.  I once saw a cartoon of two angels walking down the streets of heaven (which the author of Revelation says are paved in gold) wondering to each other why humans care so much about paving stones.  

    Now there are true treasures in this world.  Amazingly these treasures can in fact be taken with you (unlike motorcycles which just rust in boxes underground).  The treasures of this world that you can take with you are the same once that cannot be taken from you in this life either.  They are treasures like friendship, kindness, companionship, family, hope, joy, peace, and most important: love. God's love for us leads us to a deeper relationship with him, and with each other.  Those things not only go with us when we leave, they get better once we arrive at our heavenly home.  When we look at those treasures we realize that the treasures of this world are just "Mickey Mouse Money".

    This world wants us to believe that things make us happy, but in the end the things in this world that make us happy are not things at all, they are the relationships we hold dear.  No relationship is dearer, or more secure than the one that started with Jesus giving himself for you and I on the cross.  That relationship cannot be severed by any action...not someone else's not even our own actions or choices.  Christ loves you, he loved you to the cross, he loved you to the grave, he loved you right back out of the grave, and he loves you today.  You CAN ride that one to heaven.