Everything beneath the heavens is in motion. Time knows nothing of rest. The solid earth is a spinning ball, and the great sun itself is just another star circling something even greater. Tides pull at the sea, winds stir the atmosphere, friction wears down the rock. Change and death rule everywhere. The ocean is no miser's vault hoarding its wealth of waters—what flows in must flow out. We are born only to die. Everything is rush and worry and weariness of soul.

But you, friend of the unchanging Jesus! What joy to think about your changeless inheritance—your sea of bliss that will be full forever, because God himself will pour eternal rivers of pleasure into it. We're looking for a city that lasts, beyond the skies. And we will not be disappointed.

This passage should teach us gratitude. Look—the ocean receives constantly but gives just as generously. What the rivers bring, it returns to the earth as clouds and rain. The person who takes everything but gives nothing back is out of sync with the entire universe. Listen: giving to others is simply planting seed for our own harvest. The one who manages God's gifts faithfully will be trusted with even more.

Friend of Jesus, are you giving back to him according to what you've received? Much has been poured into your life—where is the fruit? Have you done all you can? Can you not do more?

To live selfishly is to live wickedly. Imagine if the ocean hoarded every drop and never released a single cloud. It would destroy the human race. God forbid that any of us should follow that stingy, destructive policy of living only for ourselves.

Jesus did not live to please himself. All fullness lives in him, yet from his fullness we have all received. O for the spirit of Jesus, that from this moment forward we would never again live for ourselves!