Giving and Eternal Life Part 2

If we try to hang on to our life or our possessions, we lose them, they are pulled away. We take nothing with us when we leave this world. Are you storing up treasure in heaven?

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”

Luke 9:24 NASB

Give It Away

A version of this same statement appears 5 times in the New Testament (Matt 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, and 17:33, and John 12:25). Jesus probably said it several times. If we try to hang onto our life we die. But if we give our life away voluntarily, we gain it. 

Useful Possessions

And this doesn’t just apply to our life. The parable of the unrighteous steward in Luke 16:1-13 tells us to use possessions to lay up treasure in our eternal life. The story is about a steward, or a manager who was careless. Before his boss (the master) could fire him, the manager found out the master’s plan and worked to cushion his own landing using the master’s money. The manager forgave much of the master’s receivables. The manager used the master’s resources to “make friends” for himself. But the most surprising thing is that both the master (vs. 8) and Jesus (vs. 9-11) commended him for it!

Treasure In Heaven

Jesus even tells us we should use all of our resources to lay up treasure in heaven. He seems to equate that with the phrase “make friends.” He seems to liken that phrase with laying up treasure in heaven. The money of this world doesn’t belong to us. We can’t take it with us. But God gives us each control over (some) worldly wealth and he expects us to use it to make eternal friends for ourselves (vs 9).

In another passage, Jesus tells a parable about a man who built bigger barns to hold all of his crops. See Luke 12:16-21. God called that man a fool. The Greek word translated “fool” is a very strong, harsh word not often said to the face of someone else.

Eternal Friends

So how are you using the resources God gave you? Are you using those resources to make eternal friends? You can use every dollar and every skill Jesus gave you to win people to Jesus. You can use your every moment to help “friends” enter the kingdom of God.

How much time and money do we waste that could be used to “make friends” for the next life? On our Marketplace Mission Trips, we focus our time and resources to practice making friends for the next life. Why not join us on the next trip?

Note: I recently read The Law of Rewards by Randy Alcorn which contains a detailed study of the parable of the Unrighteous Steward.

And check out Part 1, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Photo by Joshua Rodriguez on Unsplash