“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.” (Matthew 6:20, NASB)
It’s easy to be blinded by earthly wealth. One day I took a penny and held it very close to my eye, keeping the other eye closed. I found that if I held the penny close enough to my eye, I could block out the sun. In the same way, the pennies of this world can block out the power and life of Jesus Christ when we hold them too close.
Scripture has names for the things that are a barrier between us and God, “But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19, NIV, emphasis added). These things can keep us from having the relationship God wants us to have with him. We fail to realize that, “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15, ESV). What a tragedy to spend all of one’s life to simply please oneself with the currency and the “goods” of this world. Living life just for “stuff” is a big mistake. It can lead one on the road that looks so good, but ultimately leads to self-destruction.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with things or money. However, we enter into the red zone of trouble when we look to them to provide life for us as a substitute for God in our lives. It is only through the prism of the Cross that we can see the true purpose for why God has given us our resources. We need to remember that our earthly resources have been given to us so that we can enjoy them and use them for eternal purposes along life’s way. Yes, our resources can be used to accumulate treasure in heaven! How so? Let’s look at the example of the wise men, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11, NIV). This act of worship will be remembered for all of eternity.
The wise person today will do the very same thing as the wise men did when they visited the young Jesus: use their talents to seek him, use their time to pursue him, and present their treasure to the King to be used for his purposes. This is the Converterlator in action, investing in what counts for eternity. The “smart money” is going into the kingdom of God. We want to be in the process of helping to save people from a purposeless eternity. We want to be about helping to prepare them for not only a new life in this world but a life in the imperishable world of eternity as well. We are making friends for eternity by converterlating our temporary, perishing time, talent, and treasure into eternal value. It actually makes “cents” for us to invest in the kingdom of God.
In what ways are your currently pursuing God and his agenda?