INVESTING IN ETERNITY

After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.  (Matthew 25:19)

When you are investing for the future, ideally you want the safest investment with the highest return.  That is a hard combination to find in the financial world.  Typically, something safe produces little return, and something that promises a high return yields great risk.  Jesus told us of the best investment—one that is absolutely safe and the yields are “out of this world!”  Investing our time, talent, and treasure in the eternal will pay eternal dividends.  He taught this many times, but the focus of this study is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30.

In this story, the servants had a responsibility to invest the master’s wealth.  The money was not theirs—it was his—and there would be a day of accounting for their stewardship.  In that day, all else they had done would pale in comparison, to the moment when they would be summoned before their lord.  Surely, the meaning is clear.  We are like those servants.  All we have belongs to God.  To invest the precious minutes God gives, the valuable money He grants, and the special abilities He bestows on this temporal world is foolishness.  What will matter is investing in eternity.

Each servant was asked to do what he or she was capable of accomplishing.  They were entrusted with varying sums according to their master’s will.  God never asks us to do more than we are capable of accomplishing.  We are not in a competition with other servants, but to be the best servant we can be as God has distributed opportunity.

We discover that excuses are not acceptable.  Each of us is accountable.  On that day when we stand before God, what will matter?  It will not be the size of our house, the speed of our car, the style of our clothes, the sparkle of our jewelry, or the success of our business.  The discussion will not be about how many fish we caught, deer we killed, putts we made, shoes we bought, TV shows we watched, vacations we took, or hobbies we enjoyed.  I am not saying any of those things are evil, in and of themselves, but if we live for them, and are consumed with them, we will regret it at the Judgment Day.  I have quoted this at many a funeral,

“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past;

  Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

They say about money, “You can’t take it with you.”  The truth is you can send it on ahead, by investing it where thief cannot steal it, tarnish cannot dull it, and moths cannot eat it (Matt.6:19-20).  Our income is a blessing of God, and He expects wise investment.

We are blessed by the Creator with a unique blend of personality, capacities and abilities at birth.  In our second birth, we receive a select mix of spiritual gifts.  These are bestowed so we can be employed in God’s service.

The Lord has established a fixed amount of time for us on earth.  Our days are numbered and the Bible tells us to be, “redeeming the time…” (Eph.5:16).  To redeem means to exchange our days for that which is most valuable—the things of eternity.

One servant wasted his life.  He operated in fear of loss, rather than in faith.  The frightening possibility is we may stand before God without faith, and be cast out!  “We practice daily what we truly believe.  All the rest is just religious talk.”  (Peter Lord)