WHAT CAN I TAKE TO HEAVEN?

By the late Paul Grant

Published at www.GlobalMissiology.org, October 2013

We cram our lives with collectables

Like a train with containers in tow,

Our assets, possessions, and materials,

Define us wherever we go

We categorise our attainments,

Or make lists of goals we’ve perceived,

We examine our own assessments

And consider what we’ve achieved

Who we are, in our way of thinking,

Consists of many fulfilments,

 In acquiring and accomplishing

Investments, projects, experiments

We carry them with us as portables,

We clothe ourselves with their finery,

In a way we make ourselves marketable

As price tags on our history

But who I am just as I am

Without this paraphernalia,

Is the really real and not a sham,

Stripped of all regalia

What I am internally

Is character and nature,

It is this that defines me, actually,

And not the outside picture

For what is seen is momentary,

The Scriptures make quite clear*,

God’s plan is for eternity,

This world’s fame a mere veneer

All human fame will soon be past

 The greatest achievements superseded,

Only Christ’s work in me will last

His transformation in me conceded

This alone I can take into Heaven

The extraordinary riches of his grace,

As a new creation, sins forgiven,

To see him and serve him face to face

* 2 Corinthians 4:18

Paul E. Grant, April 2008