What is it worth?

I cleaned off my desk this weekend.

If you know me, you know just how remarkable that statement is.  I don't clean off my desk.  Ever.  So much so that it's been close to a year since the last time I did it.  Needless to say, there was a lot of junk piled up and it took a......very......long....time.....to get it all stacked away/put away/thrown away where it belongs.

In that pile of things, I found a folder.  In that folder, I found a high school diploma, a high school transcript covered in 4.0s, an ACT score that's nothing to sneeze at, three semesters' worth of honor roll certificates, even a driver's ed certificate.  You might could have written "Achievements" across the front of that folder, if it hadn't been covered with Disney Pixar characters.

And as I looked at that folder, I started thinking about heaven.  I thought about getting to heaven and looking back on that folder.  As I thought, one question plastered itself on the walls of my mind:

What is it worth?

When it's all been said and done, when I'm in heaven living out my eternal happily-ever-after with the Prince of Peace, when I'm living in the mansion prepared for me, when I'm spending every moment doing nothing but worshiping the Almighty God...what is it worth?

Nothing.

Honestly.  If I'm thinking eternally, it doesn't matter if my transcript says 4.0.  It doesn't matter into what percentile my ACT score fell.  It doesn't matter how many semesters I made the honor roll.  It doesn't matter.  At all.  Eternally speaking, it's worth nothing.

And how else should we speak, other than with eternity in mind?  After all, our eternal life has already begun.  John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent."  If we know Him, we're already living eternity.  We should be like Abraham, "looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Hebrews 11:10) 

So if we're already living eternally and thinking in terms of eternity, shouldn't our energy be directed toward things that will be worth something then? 

As I continued clearing my desk, I found something else.  Pictures.  Pictures of children who needed a home and found one here.  As I looked at those pictures, the same question echoed through my mind: 

What is it worth?

I thought about getting to heaven and looking back at those kids and asking myself that question.  And when I do, I'm going to look down the street of gold at those mansions lined up side by side by side with mine, I'm going to look at those smiling faces that are spending every moment doing nothing but worshiping the Almighty God with me, and I'm going to say,

"It's priceless."

Because it is.  Whether they came into our lives for a moment, for a year, or forever, God placed them here for a reason.  Whether He had us plant the seeds, water the seeds, or prune the plants, He made them grow while they were here.  And because of Him, we'll see them there.

That's valuable.  That's something to invest in now, because it's going to be worth something then.

Lord, teach us to invest in eternity.