Wasting Life

“For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:26

There was something different about Morris Siegel, a street person in Los Angeles, California. On the surface, he seemed like your average L.A. street person - roaming about in dark alleys, sleeping outside, carrying everything he owned in an old shopping cart - and he died the way one assumes a street person to die: found in an alley, dead of natural causes.

What was different? Maybe it was his three bank accounts containing a total of $207,421.00.

In 1979, Morris’ father died and left him the money. When he did not claim it, the Division of Unclaimed Property tracked him down, and his family forced him to accept it. He did not show up for the ceremony when the cash was handed over. He took enough of the money to by an old car, where he slept in bad weather. Relatives rented him an apartment; he never went there. He died Dec. 14, 1989, with three dollars in his pocket and an untouched fortune in the bank.

Sound crazy? Figure this one out:
Over two thousand years ago, our heavenly Father ratified His will and left all His children eternal wealth - life, peace, and victory.

To this day, many have not claimed the windfall and some have refused to spend any of it. Lost people shuffle down blind alleys of an empty existence, facing hell for eternity, and ignore the salvation promised in Christ.

Many Christians are content to live isolated, unproductive lives on this earth when they have the riches of heaven at their disposal (2 Cor. 8-9). Trading eternal life for a perishing earth sounds as crazy as Morris.

Scripture says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart...” Heb 3:7-8