Message summary: Are you decumulating for heaven?

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"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart" (Job 1:21). "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (1 Timothy 6:7).

Note: The first part of today's message is illustrative and a bit longer than usual. The spiritual application begins about half way through.

This week Brooksyne's brother, Jody and his wife, Renda, from Oklahoma visited us. On Wednesday we drove around Lancaster County after a visit to the Amish School right here in our own neighborhood. The children sang three songs to us and we gave each of them a cookie and candy corn.

Afterwards we drove to the Old Windmill Farm where Brooksyne was able to introduce her family members to the Lapps. We've lived here for 25 years and this was Jody's first visit. We also toured one of Lancaster County's best (in our view) but lesser known attractions. The Mascot Roller Mill and Ressler family home are in a rural part of Lancaster County on colorfully named Stumptown Road. (located here on Google maps)

The mill was built in the 1730's and three generations of the Ressler family operated the mill and lived in the home from 1865 until 1977. The second generation Ressler couple had 8 children but only one married and had no children leaving no heirs when the third generation passed away.

For many years two siblings, Franklin and Anna Ressler, lived in the home and managed the mill.  When they got up in years both of them packed all the clothing they wanted to keep in a single suitcase and moved to a local retirement community. Franklin was an astute business man in that he invested heavily in the stock market and had done well. They established a foundation to manage the properties with the stipulation that they be maintained exactly as they were the day they left. And fifty years later that stipulation has been followed scrupulously. When you enter the mill or house it's like a step back in time.

Franklin Ressler actually worked at the mill the day he moved to the retirement home. He walked over from the mill to his house, hung up his coat and hat on the wall just inside the back door and that's where they still hang today, just the way he left them that day, frozen in time! The bar of soap on the bathroom sink is the same one they washed their hands with and left behind, unmoved and unused since last used by the Resslers.

The tour is free, paid for by the foundation. During our tour of course we had a lot of questions. The home is not only as they left it in 1977 but their lifestyle was more like people who lived in the early part of the 1900's. It appears they did not modernize or remodel over their lifetime in the house. They did not have a TV or refrigerator. The food was stored in the root cellar at a year round temp of 50 degrees. The phone was out on the porch so it wouldn't distract from family life and so their Amish neighbors could use it. In fact the foundation kept it in service for many years after they moved out!

Spiritual application:

Having shared the story of these elderly siblings who took none of their household treasures with them upon moving out of their childhood home that last day, let's consider a spiritual application of "decumulation" for the believer. Yes, it's a real word though we don't use it much. It simply means "disposal of something accumulated" (Merriam-Webster). We normally call it downsizing. When we are born we have nothing, yet through life we accumulate! Today let us consider a concept, "decumulating for heaven".

Today's verses teach the transitory nature of life and the futility of anchoring our hope in temporal things. They call to our attention two universal bookends we all experience as part of life's journey: birth and death.

We experience contentment when we focus on the eternal, not the temporal. Paul wrote in our second verse today, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (1 Timothy 6:7).

"For we brought nothing into this world." Bible teacher David Guzik writes, "A baby is born not only penniless, but even without a pocket to put pennies in!"  Henry Alford comments... "The meaning appears to be, we were appointed by God to come naked into the world, to teach us to remember that we must also go naked out of it."

"And it is certain we can carry nothing out." When attending a believer's funeral it's not unusual to see a Bible placed in the hands of the deceased in the coffin, testimony to what he or she really valued in this life. In recent years we've seen baseball gloves, Nascar caps, cowboy garb, etc. indicating those interests the person valued. But one thing is certain, they really aren't taking the items with them! The material things that bring meaning and pleasure in this life or make a person wealthy hold no value in the world to come.

When we have a heart of contentment we view our material possessions and resources from an eternal perspective. We can't take material possessions with us no matter how much we value them, but Jesus taught that we can start building our treasure chest there by decumulating, even while we live here below: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

A person's lasting wealth will ultimately be measured by the treasures he or she has stored up in heaven, not the treasures amassed here on earth.

Our material treasures will not pass from this life to the next, but the investment we have made to the kingdom of God through our service and use of our material resources will last for eternity. We can carry nothing out - but we can "send ahead" eternal blessing and reward through the wise use of our time and resources right now!

Bible teacher Steven Cole in his commentary on 1 Timothy observes, "If you are living for the eternal, not the temporal, you will experience three facets of contentment:

Today we encourage our readers to live for the eternal! Are you decumulating for Heaven?

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13.

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, would You show us through Your Holy Spirit, through the Holy Scriptures and by the examples of committed believers what it is to live for the eternal. It seems that we indulge in the temporal far too much and it prioritizes our time, finances, and interests. As we love You more, we love the things of the world less. We see them for what they really are - temporal, broken, and too often sin-ridden. If we fix our eyes on You the things of this world will grow strangely dim. We want to spend more time with You which will direct our thoughts and affections toward heaven. We want to deposit our investments there so that our treasure chest is growing with rust-proof, moth-proof, and thief-proofed treasures that last for all eternity. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

"Decumulation" is often used as a retirement strategy of spending down your assets.