Finally, all this stuff is mine!

No, the things we accumulate are not ours. They are on loan so to speak. God provides many wonderful gifts and assets for our use. Not one thing exists or is made that wasn't provided by God. We think we "invent" things but the things we invent are made up of what God has provided. God has been very generous with us. Look around at all the "stuff" we have to use and enjoy. Of course, what we see is much more than what we have made with God's resources. Many feel that nature, undisturbed by man, is the greatest gift, the most amazing resource. When you are alone with God in nature, thinking about Him and His creation, it is a special moment whether on a mountain top or by the sea.

One of the most instructive things Jesus did was show us how He chose to be alone with the Father. Luke said of Jesus: "He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed." Luke 5:16. NKJV  Going away from people to be alone with God is refreshing and intense. You feel like you are drawing close to Him, talking to Him and listening to Him. When the Scriptures refer to God and Jesus as the "I am", the I Am is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Discuss what those three words mean and why they take on new meaning when you are alone with God in nature.   If the resources created for our use by God are temporary, does it not make sense that God has prepared a better place? Listen to the writer of Hebrews and to Paul: "But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:16 "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come." Hebrews 13:14 NKJV

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." Philippians 3:20, 21 NKJV

Yes, there is a better place where all resources, including us, will abide. We get pretty worked up over protecting our resources here on earth and for good reason if that includes protecting and respecting what God has created. But it is clear enough that which we can not yet see will be wonderful. Listen again to Paul: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV

That is a very big statement, followed by these verses: "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 NKJV

Does the fact that all things on earth will perish bother you? Discuss this difficult question carefully and then move to why these things exist. Will the Garden of Eden, the perfect place, be restored? Where, if you had to guess? How can you know the "deep things of God"?

Core Christian Value: Everything that we see is "temporary", it will cease to exist. The things we do not yet see are "eternal" and will never cease to exist. Don't get too attached to anything in this world!