Finding Our Worth in the Real ThingНамуна

Day 2: Eternal Investors

As we continue to discover the ways we try and satisfy ourselves with God’s good gifts instead of God Himself, there is another aspect at play in the story of the rich young ruler that we need to examine: he was a rich man. The scriptures tell us this man had great wealth, and it actually kept him from stepping into a closer relationship with Jesus and building treasures in eternity.

When Jesus invited the rich young ruler to follow him, the young man was first instructed to sell all his possessions and give his resources to the poor. This invitation was accompanied by a promise that if he did, he would store up treasure in heaven; namely a relationship with the God of the universe. Jesus was hinting at something we all know is true in theory; everything is temporary, only God is eternal. But even though we can acknowledge this truth, how many of us actually live like it is true?

When it comes down to it, most of us would prefer immediate satisfaction over delayed gratification. Waiting is hard, especially when you are waiting for something that cannot be seen or touched in this lifetime! As a result, many of us trade eternal investment in people and our relationship with God for current comfort. In the case of the rich young ruler, he decided to keep his material possessions rather than follow Jesus into obscurity and poverty. While we might judge him for making such a poor decision, how many of us are making similar decisions without even thinking about it?

Material wealth and comfort are not bad things; God wants us to use creativity and innovation to build this world into something good, enjoyable, and delightful! However, when those pursuits become our ultimate goal, that's when we know we have traded the Kingdom of God for immediate satisfaction. Our challenge is to learn from the rich young ruler’s mistake and make sure we are not so concerned with the present that we miss opportunities to invest in eternity.

Reflection:

Spend some time reflecting on today’s devotional and consider what eternal trade-offs you are making you might not be aware of. Are there areas of your life, finances, relationships, investment of time, or material pursuits that are inadvertently keeping you from building eternal treasure? Write down one or two areas of life you want to focus on and pray about how you can shift your focus from present comfort to eternal investment.