I’ve definitely spent too much of my life working hard for endless hours to capture as much of the world’s wealth as possible—as if I’m going to take any of it with me when I die. Much of my life has been an exercise in futility because I was strongly motivated by making money. Thousands of hours of work; hundreds of thousands earned, spent, and saved. To what avail? I was always where I started—it was never enough. It never is. Praise God, He continues to awaken me to the truth and remind me how to invest in eternal treasures.
What are “eternal treasures?”
Well, let’s see what 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.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV
Does this mean we can’t have wealth? Nope. That’s not what Jesus said. He said don’t “lay up for YOURSELVES treasures on earth.” ALL of our earthly treasures must belong to God—not us.
When our heart belongs to God, it’s much easier to hand everything else over to Him.
Our earthly treasure is just another opportunity to invest in eternity. But the problem which often plagues us is that we love our possessions so much that—they own us. They then are able to ENSLAVE us. We can HAVE earthly treasures as long as they don’t OWN us. They must NOT be the great treasure of our heart. To ensure that we understood this concept, Jesus ripped the mask off of the lying face of the prosperity gospel:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will HATE the one and LOVE the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money].
Matthew 6:24 NKJV
Timothy was also very direct about the destructive force of earthly treasures:
But those who DESIRE to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which DROWN men in destruction and perdition.
For the LOVE of MONEY is a root of all kinds of EVIL, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
I Timothy 6:9-10 NKJV
So how do we prevent the wealth that God gives us—from destroying us? Timothy explains:
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them DO GOOD, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
I Timothy 6:17-19 NKJV
Now remember, this is written to born again believers, not the lost—so “laying hold of eternal life” does not mean earning salvation. Salvation is a free gift! Rather, this verse means that using wealth to do good works for God’s glory is an opportunity to accumulate ENDURING riches. In other words, when the foundation of our life is our salvation through Christ, AND when we LOVE Him and make Him the center—our love will NOT be our wealth. That’s when we know that we’ve learned to have God’s perspective on wealth. It no longer owns us. Rather, money becomes our slave for good works instead of us becoming a slave for our destruction.
One day, all of our investments of time and resources will be tried by God’s refining fire. ONLY what we do and spend for God’s kingdom will survive. We will take nothing else with us.
“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.”
I Corinthians 3:11-13 NKJV
Invest wisely today—it may be your last day on earth to invest in anything that matters.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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