We brought nothing into the world,
and we can take nothing out of it.
—1 Timothy 6:7
I counted the ads in a glossy regional magazine: 266 in this one issue.
- Ten touted vehicles.
- Thirty-one advertised residential properties and furnishings.
- Forty-four promoted a variety of things: vacation packages, entertainment, conventions, hotels, banks.
- A whopping 181 pitched food, drink, clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, hair care, and plastic surgery.
We are bombarded by commercials and ads cleverly contrived to whet our appetite for more and more stuff.
But don’t forget the end game: “People come into this world with nothing, and when they die they leave with nothing” (Eccl 5:15). “Do not be overawed when a man grows rich . . . for he will take nothing with him when he dies” (Ps 49:16, 17).
Things that count most are
things that can’t be counted.