²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matthew 16:26 ESV)

What do you gather?

I have a few things that I tend to gather, hobbies that I enjoy. Maybe one of your’s is money. I wish I could gather more of this, but due to my hobbies I am not good at it. We tend to all have something we gather or collect, but what of this will go with us into heaven?

I know everything I have will get left behind. But, also, I do not think that I have found anywhere in the scriptures where it says to not have hobbies or pastimes. But it does, in various ways, tell us not to obsess over them or anything of this earth. We should obsess over things of our faith and of heaven. For nothing we store up here will go with us.

So what do these things profit us? Really, other than some temporal enjoyment not much. Now one of mine is mountain biking and that does help me stay somewhat more healthy. So some of our hobbies and pastimes can be beneficial beyond the collection of stuff.

However, we need to put all of this into perspective as it relates to today’s scripture.