Scripture for Today: Psalm 39:6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.”

It has got to be one of the easiest costumes to put together! And that old white sheet hanging out in the cupboard is finally being put to good use! The ghost costume allows for a coat to be worn underneath in a cold climate with none being the wiser! However, all that material slipping around can trip up its wearer. But it does the job. And in rushing from house to house candies are happily heaped up!

Today’s verse describes another kind of phantom. He doesn’t appear just once a year but spends a lifetime accumulating wealth. It is a vain goal as he does not even know what will become of it after he leaves this earth. To place our hope and confidence in what we own is foolish as our wealth can quickly sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle (Prov. 23:5). What a contrast to the one whose hope is in the Lord (verse 7). The riches of His love, care and faithfulness are eternal.

I am a mere phantom with no real substance when my focus is on what will not last. I want my life to be lived on a different plane with a deeper meaning. I want to live with eternity in view but I get so distracted by what I can see and touch. Spending all my energies on the temporal keeps me from that true life. My heart needs to be with the treasure and reward that last, that which is stored up in Heaven (Matthew 6:21-22). As C.T. Studd wrote, “Only one life ’twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Lord, keep me from being “ghostly!”