In 1936, Albert E. Brumley wrote the following words:
This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through;
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world any more.
Many years earlier Matthew wrote the following words (Matthew 6):
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
When we read the words of Matthew or sing the words of Albert Brumley it is clear that Christians are just a-passing through this world to a better place. Earthly wisdom tells us to seek comfort and security in the physical wealth of this world. Heavenly wisdom tells us the physical wealth God has provided is just a-passin through our hands. Our hands must be seeking a heavenly wealth that will be ours for eternity.
God does not measure our earthly treasure in dollars as does man but in the place they occupy within our heart. Our earthly treasures can be as expensive as gold or as cheap as dirt. If our heart constantly longs for earthly treasures our heart will be challenged to also seek out heavenly treasures. Gold and dirt are just a-passin through our hands and as Jennie B. Wilson wrote in 1906:
Time is filled with swift transition,
Naught of earth unmoved can stand,
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God’s unchanging hand