Financial Regret #4: Not Investing in God’s Work

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
—2 Corinthians 5:10

Another regret people have about their money is this: “I wish I had invested more in God’s work.” Second Corinthians 5:10 says, speaking of Christians, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” One day we will all stand before God and give an account for how we have handled everything entrusted to us—our time, our talent, and yes, the treasure God has loaned to us. Remember, you and I do not own anything; we are simply managers of what God has entrusted to us.

In Luke 16, Jesus told a story about a financial manager who was called in by his employer. When the employer saw how his financial manager had been handling his assets, he said, “You’re fired. I will give you a couple of days to give me a final accounting of my finances.” Well, this financial manager began to panic. He thought, “What am I going to do? I will be out of work in a few days.” So he came up with a brilliant plan. He took all of his master’s accounts receivable and started discounting them—some by 20 percent, some by 50 percent, and some by 80 percent. Everyone who owed his master money, he called in and said, “I’m going to give you a great deal. I will cut your bill in half, or by two-thirds, or reduce it.” What was his motivation? The financial manager knew that when he became unemployed, all of these people he had done a favor for would treat him nicely and perhaps hire him.

When the master heard what his financial manager had done, he called him in. He said, “If only you had shown this much ingenuity while you were my employee, you would still have a job today.” Then Jesus made this application: “Make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings” (v. 9 NASB). Jesus is saying that the shelf life of money is very short. Money is only of use in this life. There will come a day when we stand before God and our money will be worthless. Our finances will fail us one day. Jesus told us to have the foresight to do what this manager did, and that is to use your present resources to prepare for the future.

When you invest your money in God’s work, you are ensuring that one day, if you are a Christian, you will receive heavenly rewards and be greeted in heaven by people who are there because of the investment you made in God’s work.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Living without Financial Regrets” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2009.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.