Today I would like to share something about the relationship between generosity and eternity. God wants to teach us to live with eyes that can see far beyond what is visible, temporary, finite and earthly. When the Bible teaches us to be generous, it is precisely teaching us to have an eternal look with regard to our resources, possessions, and money. It is teaching us to store up treasures in heaven.
Let me give a simple example here: when a mother or a father sits down with a child to do his homework, the child looks at the video game or some other toy next door and wants to play. The child thinks about what he wants at that very moment. He thinks only of the present while his parents worry about learning, about developing and about the next school years. More than that, parents dream about the future of their children. We who are already grown up are able to plan the next years, to organize ourselves for some future medium or long term dream. But more than this, our Father wants to teach us to live and plan our lives with an eye to eternity. And this also with regard to our resources.
In Jesus eternity is already a reality
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 (NVT)
For those of us who have received eternal life from Jesus, material possessions become insufficient. They are no longer able to fulfill our longings for eternity. It no longer makes sense for our security to be in an accumulation of material goods that will one day come to an end, but in the Lord, who is eternal, unchanging, and abides forever.
The safest investment there is
More than having a fat reserve, diversified investments that provide us with a safe future here on earth, when we are generous and invest in people, in the church, in the Kingdom of God, we are accumulating a safe treasure in heaven
It is not bad or wrong to work for a stable future here on earth. It is important to think about the provision for our family. But when we store up a treasure for eternity, which is the fruit of generosity, the economy can fluctuate, pandemics can happen, bitcoin can crash, and this treasure remains. This is a treasure that truly brings us security. No thief can steal the treasures we have stored up in heaven.
As Jesus himself said, “Sell your possessions and give to the needy. By doing this you will store up treasures in heaven, and the purses in heaven will not wear out or decay. Your treasure will be secure; no thief will steal it and no moth will destroy it.” – Luke 12:36 (NVT)
In conclusion:
It is interesting to note that several passages that talk about money, possessions and property, exhort us about the temporality of possessions and how transient they are. It is as if the Bible were telling us: “Hey, you who are already eternal, don’t forget that some things will not accompany you for eternity! Don’t set your heart on them!”
This is why when we are generous and our trust is not in material possessions, we indicate our understanding regarding eternity and that we have already begun to live it today.
“Therefore we do not look at what we can now see; instead we fix our gaze on what cannot be seen. For the things we now see will soon pass away, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” – 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NVT)
May we have a generous heart and look at what the Lord has deposited in us with eyes of eternity. Aiming at heaven and all that which endures forever.
God bless you!
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