You see, the day comes when God takes away all these things. There is an absolute loss of all our possessions—and not only our possessions, but even our health and strength to enjoy [the possessions]. And when that happens, what do you have left? Only what you have laid up in the kingdom of God. Now in contrast to that, I remember someone I met in New England. A fine old missionary couple of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Reverend and Mrs. Floyd Hamilton, who [experienced an awful event twice]. Twice in the upheaval in China—once when the Japanese invaded in Word War II and after that when the government was overthrown—they were driven out and lost everything that they had but the clothes on their backs and the Bible in their hands. I remember starting to express my real sympathy to Reverend Hamilton, and he looked at me and smiled and said,
G. I. WilliamsonNo, that was one of the greatest blessings in life, for it really taught us what is and what is not important.He did not look upon that as the loss of any wealth at all, because truly I could say, their riches were laid up in heaven; and so when they died they were able to take it with them. What a beautiful thing it was to see this.1
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,