Wise Investing

From God's Word:

Click and Read Matthew 6:19-21

Key Verse:

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. -Matthew 6:20 (NIV)

Without Googling his name, can you tell me who Millard Fillmore is?

A few history buffs will be able to tell me, but most of us won't have a clue.

Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States of America. You would think we would know the name of someone who held such a prestigious office, right? If I don't even know the name of someone who was president, who will ever remember me when I'm gone? Does this life even matter?

It is a sad fact that most of us will be completely forgotten within two, maybe three, generations after we pass away. Here today, gone tomorrow. No matter how much we gain or accomplish, no matter how noble the causes we fight for, no matter how powerful the positions we hold, our lives truly are just a vapor.

Solomon saw it. When he looked at the works of mankind, he said, "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14 NIV).

This has been a reoccurring theme for me this week. I've been reminded so much in sermons and my own study time, that time is short. So what am I doing with it? With the time I have been given, is it possible to do something meaningful? Can I devote myself to something more than chasing after wind?

I've been looking at my life and doing some self-inventory. I don't have the answers yet, but I've been going through my day today asking:

• What in my life has eternal value?
• In what ways am I investing in eternity?
• What activities am I wasting my time on?

It's been good just to ask the questions. If this is all there is, then life is utterly meaningless. I should just go have fun, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow I die. But since this is not all there is, I want to build a life that is meaningful and purposeful.

Our pastor taught us this weekend that the key to a purposeful life is doing life as if you are doing it unto God. Whatever you do, do it unto Him. I'm not famous or powerful. I am a mom. I'm a wife. I'm a homemaker. Not very exciting!

Cleaning my toilets, changing the diapers, serving my family, all of these appear meaningless, but they have the potential of being more eternally significant than being President of the United States if done with the right heart. If I do my life, the things I've been called to do, and do them as if I was doing them for God and for His glory, that work will last. And it will bring me joy.

Personal Application:

Do your own self-inventory this week:

• Can you identify ways you are chasing after wind and wasting time?
• How are you investing in eternity?
• If you were to die tonight, is your life in order? What would you be able to take with you?
• Are you ignoring eternity or building up treasure there?
• How can you do your own life as if unto God? What meaningless activities can become eternally significant just by changing your heart and attitude about them?

Dear Lord,

Thank you that this life is not it. Give me an eternal perspective and help me to build my life in a way that will have eternal significance. Help me to set aside the things that are worthless and to strive for the things you value. Show me how to do my everyday life for you.

In Jesus' Name I pray,

Amen

More of God's Word:

So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. - Colossians 3:1-2 (The Message)

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