"Lord, please grant my petition."

"Son, you already have eternal life, what do you want to do with your gold in heaven?"

So, as the legend goes, the man pleaded, and pleaded, and the Lord gave in.

"Okay, you can bring some along with you when you die. But you will discover that it is of no use in heaven."

The man was joyful. He was eagerly anticipating the day that he would die. At least, he would not die naked like other men. He would be able to take some of his riches with him.

Finally, the day came and this man passed over to the great beyond. Before he died, he had carefully loaded a sack with a generous quantity of gold. He was not sure of what waited on the other side, but he did not want to arrive a pauper. Before he settled down in heaven, there should be some money to spend.

As he approached the gates of pearl, two angels accosted him,

"Stop. Where are you coming from?"

"I am a child of God. I have just arrived from earth."

"You are just arriving from earth? How did you cross over with the sack you are carrying?"

"It contains very precious substance. I got permission from God to bring some to heaven."

"Impossible", chorused the angels. "Nobody carries anything from earth to heaven. It has never happened before."

Immediately, a small group of angels formed around this man, curious to see the man that arrived in heaven carrying a sack from earth.

They approached the table where Peter with another angel were sitting in front of a massive register.

The angel in charge of the records proceeded immediately to open the register to find out if the claim of the man is true.

"It is in the register. The Lord permitted him to bring the sack and its contents to heaven."

The curiosity of the angels heightened.

"Let us see what is inside the sack."

The man dropped the sack and an angel excitedly opened it while the others crowded round him trying to get a look.

"Pavement?!", muttered the angel looking into the sack.

"You brought pavement from earth to heaven? We don't need more pavement, the entire place is already paved. The streets in heaven are paved with gold."

"What you brought has no value here."

Yet, in the world, men would lie, steal, cheat, murder, fornicate, conspire, forge documents, and commit unprintable abominations to gather gold, otherwise called money. In the eternal abode of man, gold, money, and wealth have no value.

What then, has value? Salvation of soul. For a thousand years, a million years, a billion years, and so on, salvation of soul has everlasting value. Money has value in a man's life for maximum of 100 years.

That is why Jesus Christ warned, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36

This implies, if a man gains much gold but loses his soul, he is a loser.

If a man loses much gold but gains his soul, he is a winner.

Always think in terms of eternity. Your time on earth is short, compared with the time you have to spend in eternity. With this realization, take quality decision to protect and save your soul.

Repent of your sin today and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of your soul. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by him.