Keith Wishum reports:  There is a lesson to be learned in Hiawatha, Kansas.  It is one taught not in school there, but in the local cemetery.Charles Allen describes some unusual gravestones in Hiawatha.  They were erected by a man named Davis, a self-made man who started out as a poor, hired hand on a farm.  Through hard work, fierce determination, and extreme frugality, Davis amassed a sizeable fortune.

When his wife died, Davis hired a sculptor to create an elaborate statue of him and his wife seated on a love seat.  He liked the piece so much that he then hired the sculptor to create a statue of him kneeling by his wife’s grave placing flowers there.  Pleased with that, he commissioned another statue of his wife kneeling by his future grave. 

Eventually, Davis added several more pieces to the gravesite, spending a quarter of a million dollars on the monuments!

Unfortunately, Davis had little interest in anything else.  He ignored his family.  He did not cultivate friendships.  He had no interest in the community; just his monuments.
Davis died at 92, alone and penniless.  Of the few who attended his funeral, only one seemed sad to see him go – Horace England, the tombstone salesman.

And now in the little town of Hiawatha, Kansas, the monuments on which Davis spent so much money and energy are disappearing.  Slowly, but very surely they sink into the soft Kansas soil.  The added ravages of weather and vandalism make it clear that the monuments will soon be gone, just as Davis is gone.  Everything Davis worked for will be gone, because everything he worked for was material.

The lesson to be learned in Hiawatha, Kansas applies everywhere and in every age.  The things of this world that often seem so important to us, so permanent to us, don’t last.  Even granite monuments will soon be forgotten.  Only the unseen realities beyond this world are worth our attention and energy. *

Jesus said..., “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” – Matthew 6:19-21

The Apostle John wrote:  “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” – 1 John 2:15-17

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what
is seen is TEMPORARY, but what is unseen is ETERNAL,” the apostle Paul wrote
(2 Corinthians 4:18).

Jesus and His apostles teach us to focus on those things that are eternal.  Then Jesus died for us – to pay the price for our sins – so that we might live with him for eternity.

To accept Jesus’ offer of salvation and eternal life, we must place our faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, as we walk in the light of His word, His blood continues to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:7).

Invest YOUR life in those things that are truly lasting:  Salvation and Eternal Life in Christ!

Won’t YOU?