The verses highlighted in this post are from Section I of our Investing Challenge.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” ~ Matt. 6:19-20
Value Now or Value Later?
After one of the World Wars, in Germany it was literally cheaper to burn paper money than to use that same money to buy firewood! A distinguished citizen of one of their major cities, Berlin I believe, saw his entire fortune vanish. He was so devastated by the state of affairs that he spent his entire life savings to purchase a train ticket (the value of his money had decreased so drastically that a train ticket is all it could buy) to ride around and view his beloved city one last time before he died. If we do not invest in eternity, we will one day face a similar situation with our investments: we will suddenly realize that the things we have worked for and put all of our time into have outlived their value.
An Exciting Aspect of God’s Plan!
However, Jesus tells us how to avoid this, and this is the most exciting part: Lay up treasures in heaven! God wants us to have treasures in heaven! Sounds fairly simple, but do we realize what that means for us?
Not too long ago, I was challenged by a question: Is my view of God complete? Whether we realize it or not, we all have a view of God…but is it the correct view? Some see Him as a just God but miss His mercy. Others view Him as a gracious God but miss His holiness. Some see God as the All-Powerful Creator but they don’t realize how much He cares for each individual on a personal level. Though God is so great, He wants to have a personal, daily relationship with us. If we miss any of His attributes, we miss a great blessing and we live as if our mis-perceptions are reality.
I realized there was a very important aspect of God that I didn’t really understand: He is a rewarder! “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). I knew that I needed to make sacrifices for God but I never took to heart the fact that He wants to reward me for each one! God wants to reward me! Without really realizing it, I had been treating God like a good police officer: I’m glad He’s there, and I know He keeps me safe but the only time He really comes to “see” me is when I’ve done something wrong. Of course in His holiness God does punish wrong, but He also desires to benefit me! This is not to say that life is all about me and my rewards because it’s not. It’s about Him (Col. 1:16). But while it is all about Him, and He knows it’s about Him, and He is a perfect and jealous God who is justified in not letting it be about anyone or anything else, He is the one that wants to reward us!
The greatest blessing a person could hope to have is a saving, personal relationship with God. And through that relationship He wants to give us many other blessings……..
Thanks for sharing this important concept. If I fail to keep an attribute of God in my thoughts, my life will reflect it and I will miss out (along with those around me). God’s character as our Rewarder is definitely an important attribute to keep in mind!