Daily Devotion

“Human life is like a traveler temporarily staying at an inn, soon to embark on another journey. Worldly wealth, glory, palaces, and status are all like fleeting clouds in the sky or bubbles on the water, vanishing in an instant. Only by accumulating virtue and doing good deeds, and obeying God's commandments, can one's merits enter the eternal heavenly realm with one's soul—this is true wealth.”

Ferdinand Verbiest · Introduction to the Doctrine of the Meaning: Before and After Life

Scripture

1 Chronicles 29:15 We are strangers and sojourners before you, just as our ancestors were. Our days on earth are like a shadow, they will not last.

Reflection

We often mistake a temporary lodging for a permanent home, relentlessly chasing after fleeting fame and wealth that we cannot take with us. As the scriptures say, life is but a fleeting shadow. This passage reminds me not to be bound by immediate gains and losses and anxieties, but to face the world with the detached mindset of a "stranger." By turning our gaze to eternity, and in our limited years bearing the fruit of love and accumulating heavenly treasures, we can live a life of true richness and great peace.