This isn't all there is

Romans 7:1  "Do you not know, brothers- for I am speaking to men who know the law- that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?"

Paul is speaking here about the temporary nature of the law.  Once a person dies a physical death, the laws of this life do not apply anymore.  The law does not speak to eternal matters, but simply governs our behavior in this life. 

The same can be said for virtually everything that surrounds us in this world.  It is all temporary and holds little, if any, eternal value.  Chasing after the things of this world is truly like chasing the wind, as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes.  We never catch it, and even what is in our presence is impossible to grab hold of and hold in your hands. 

So is this life and the things of this world all that there is?  Are we put here to accumulate all we can and to try to live under the law until we die?  Then what?  What a pitiful state of being for those who have nothing but the constantly depreciating value of the world surrounding them.  I grieve for those who use money as a way of keeping score, as a way of defining themselves as a success or a failure.  There will always be people who have more, and the person will never become rich enough to realize that wealth will never be enough.

I pray that these people will take hold of what is permanent and eternal.  Only life in Christ is permanent and eternal.  Only the Holy Spirit can provide a different framework and perspective in which to view the world.  Once the world and all of its trappings are not all there is, it goes from being our everything to being a much smaller portion of our reality.  The laws of this world become guideposts that reflect God, but are not God in and of themselves.  Once we really have God, we can quit making the things of this world our god.