The global credit crunch is on. The crime rate is rising. Online phishing and offline fraud is commonplace. House prices are falling and mortgage rates are rising. In our homes, things wear out and break down. We live in world of decay and corruption.
This world has been described as one “where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” And yet still we go on, buying things that we hope will last, building up savings that we hope will not be lost, investing in schemes and properties that we hope will hold or increase their value. We hope our inheritance will be worth something. And yet many of us are storing up our treasure in a world that will finally pass away.
The Bible talks about a man whose investments seemed to be paying off. He made big plans for the future, with dreams of expanding business and increasing wealth. He said to himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (Luke’s Gospel, chapter 12, verses 13 to 21).
Jesus Christ wrote a warning over that man’s life and death: “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Are you still investing in this world? Are you storing up treasures on earth, where decay and corruption reign, and without any guarantees that you will be around to enjoy the things which you are able to get?
This passing world is a place of moths and rust and thieves. Nothing belonging to it lasts or is secure. It is uncertain and unpredictable. Our own lives are short, our days passing swiftly: “As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more” (Psalm 103, verses 15 and 16).
So where do we turn? What can we invest in? What will last the test of time and of eternity? When Northern Rock shatters, is there solid rock on which we can build?
Jesus Christ warns us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also (Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 6, verses 19 to 21). He goes on to speak of the man who hears his words and does them as building his house upon the rock. Such a house stands when the storms of time and of judgement batter it, because it is founded on the rock (chapter 7, verses 24 to 27).
Where is your treasure, and where is your heart? What is your foundation and your hope? Are you like the rich fool, investing everything in a passing and uncertain world, in a passing and uncertain life? Or will you be the wise man, who built his house on the rock, and therefore could never be shaken? Have you made a sound investment?
Posted by Jeremy Walker 