They are all really worthless!

(J. C. Ryle, "Profit and Loss")

What shall I say of the things of this world,
which people appear to think so valuable--
  money,
  houses,
  land,
  clothes,
  fine food and drink,
  learning,
  honors,
  titles,
  pleasures,
  amusements,
  and the like?

I say that they are all really worthless!

What I mean is this, that if you suppose they are in
themselves able to make you really happy--you are
woefully deceived! If any person could have just as
much as he wished of every earthly good thing--he
would still find in a very short time that he was not
one whit happier than before!

I dare say you think I am mistaken—but let me tell you
that many a rich man has tried the experiment, and can
bear witness that the case is so! Many a one could tell
you that he seeks out everything which money can
purchase, he passes his life in a constant round of
amusement and excitement, going from one pleasure
to another. And yet he must confess that happiness
and peace of mind have been like a shadow--always
before his eyes but never within his grasp!

I say that all the things of the world are perishable!
Surely, dear friends, this cannot require any evidence.
You must have seen with your own eyes that none of the
things I have mentioned are sure, lasting, permanent,
incorruptible, and to be depended on!

Money and property may be lost! Health may fail! Friends
may be deceitful! And unless we can make a covenant with
death and hell, we ourselves may suddenly be cut off in the
midst of our days--and hurried to our final judgment!

"Why waste your money on what really isn't food? Why
 work hard for something that doesn't satisfy?" Isaiah 55:2

"The world and its evil desires are passing away! But the
 person who does God's will lives forever!" 1 John 2:17