What kind of business does Christ want us to conduct with the resources He has entrusted to us?
In a word, we need to invest, not just spend. Too many of us have accumulated debt that is wearing us down because we spend, spend, spend. So we owe, owe, owe. Yet God wants us to invest what we have been given for the advancement of His kingdom.
In fact, as a steward of God’s resources, you are to be content without being passive. God calls us to live a life of contentment. What that means, though, is that you are to be at ease where you are while simultaneously working diligently and trusting God to enable you to maximize your potential. (Proverbs 30:8, Philippians 4:11-12)
We do that in our physical lives. We get an education, attend seminars, or become an expert in a certain craft or field. We will go through an enormous amount of energy in order to make a mark for ourselves in this world. Yet, often, if you were to look at how much time, energy and financial investment we make in advancing God’s kingdom, it would come up lacking. Rather, our focus is on our kingdom, our bank account, our house, our car, and our clothes. It is about the advancement of us rather than Him.
If you have children, you know they would rather spend than invest any day. We don’t have to teach our kids to spend. We have to teach them to save. Do you know why kids spend all the time? Because they have a wrong view of the future. Kids spend because the only day they can see is today.
Given the chance to get what they want, most teenagers will get it without worrying about whether they will be broke next week. Kids don’t take investing seriously because they don’t take the future seriously.
Let me tell you, this is why the lives of some believers are messed up. They don’t seriously believe the Owner is going to come back and ask them what they did with the resources He entrusted to them as His stewards.
Now most of us prepare for the future in other areas. We have insurance policies to cover everything we have and anything that might happen to it.
In other words, we will do for ourselves what we won’t do for God. We plan for what might happen by buying insurance. But we fail to plan for what will happen—the return of Jesus Christ and the evaluation of our stewardship—by wisely investing the life potential and resources He has given us.
When you invest in advancing the kingdom on earth, what you are doing is forwarding ahead that which has eternal value attached to it. You are thinking with a future-oriented mindset. You are laying up for yourself “treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal ….” (Matthew 6:20)
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