Financial Discipleship - the Bible on Eternal FocusSample

Imagine a cable running through the room where you are now.

To your right, the cable runs billions of lightyears all the way to the end of the universe; to your left, it runs to the other end of the universe.

Now imagine that the cable to your left represents eternity past, and the cable to your right, eternity future.

Imagine taking out a marker and making a tiny line on the cable in front of you.

That tiny mark represents your brief life on earth.

Most people, however, lacking such an eternal perspective, live their lives as if the mark were everything.

They make mark choices, live in mark houses, drive mark cars, wear mark clothes, raise mark children, and dream mark dreams.

One of the most crucial perspectives for us to embrace when handling money is the reality of eternity, and these two truths will help us gain a proper perspective of our money and possessions:

1. We leave it all behind.

After John D. Rockefeller died, it was reported that his accountant was asked how much he had left. The accountant’s response was classic, “He left it all.”

Job said it this way, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there” (Job 1:21).

Paul wrote, “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it, either” (1 Timothy 6:7).

2. Everything will be destroyed.

Earthly goods are destined to be destroyed or become dust.

“The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives” (2 Peter 3:10-11).

The temporal nature of things should help us handle them with an eternal perspective.

I encourage you to number the estimated days you have left on Earth. This has helped me focus on investing my life and resources in eternally important matters.

Thomas à Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, said, "Let temporal things serve your use, but the eternal be the object of your desire.”

In Christ,

Howard Dayton

Founder, Compass-finances God's way

(excerpt taken from Compass Blog, 2 Truths About Money and Possessions, Howard Dayton, July 2023)