Is The Money That You're Spending Today Stealing From Your Tomorrow?
By David J. Stewart | March 2014
Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
I
noticed a big advertisement today while driving by a local bank. The message
read, “Are you spending money today that is stealing from your tomorrow?”
That's really a great statement, but not the way they intended it. They're
wanting people to lay up treasures here on earth for retirement and such.
Although the bank had no spiritual intentions, I immediately realized that
for every dollar that we spend today on ourselves as Christians, it is a
dollar that could have been spent to reap eternal rewards. I could give you
a hundred examples of how believers spend money today that is stealing from
their future tomorrow in Heaven.
Notice again our text passage of Scripture . . .
Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
I know people who've spent decades laying up earthly wealthy, scrutinizing every paycheck, keeping earnest track of their financial investments and retirements. I've known other co-workers who were obsessed with the Stock Market (which is all rigged from the inside by the way). It's all a big scam, as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Talk about thieves, scoundrels and liars! Dozens of high-profile stock traders have been in the news recently for committing suicide—throwing themselves out of skyscraper windows, jumping in front of speeding commuter trains, hanging and shooting themselves, et cetera. There's just something about money that once you have it, it has you.
The bank advertisement that I read asks people if they are spending money today that is stealing from their tomorrow. I'd like to make two observations:
- No one is guaranteed a “tomorrow” here on earth. The bank assumes foolishly that everyone will have a tomorrow. Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
- From Heaven's view the sign ought to read, “Is the money that you're hording today here on earth stealing from your tomorrow in eternity?”
I've known numerous carnally minded co-workers throughout my life who saved, monitored and planned for a big retirement, who never lived to spend a single penny of it! I thank God that I'm investing in Heaven, laying up treasures where nothing bad can happen to them! Laying up treasures down here on earth is just throwing your money away.
Even worse is the epidemic of immorality in America, which is fueled by the LOVE OF MONEY. Consider the Bible's stern warning against doing wrong to make money . . .
Jeremiah 17:11, “As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.”
The Bible warns in 1st Timothy 6:10 that in the foolish pursuit of money many people have “PIERCED THEMSELVES THROUGH WITH MANY ARROWS.” 1st Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” We are all spirits living in a fleshly tabernacle (body). This fleshly dwelling place cannot last indefinitely. In fact, no one has any guarantee of tomorrow. Every day famous people, unfamous and infamous people alike experience sudden death, whether it be a head-on-collision or a heart-attack. Death often comes announced.
The
Bible teaches in Luke 16:22 that when a believer dies, the angels come down
to escort them up to Heaven; whereas Isaiah 14:9 says that when an
unbeliever dies in their sins without Christ, Hell comes up to bring them
down to Hell. Isaiah 14:9, “Hell from beneath is
moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the
dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from
their thrones all the kings of the nations.” The greatest things in
life aren't things. God has provided eternal life freely to anyone who wants
it. You cannot purchase eternal life. Jesus already paid everyone's way to
Heaven, but each and every individual person must receive Christ by faith to
have the gift of eternal life. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Are
you trusting Him as your Savior? Do you believe that Jesus shed His precious
blood and died for your sins? Do you believe in the bodily resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead? Christ is almighty God!!!
Spend Carefully So You Can Give Generously
Whoever you are, don't waste your life. Why wait until you are diagnosed with cancer before you start thinking about the things of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:20-21, “For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.” How about you? Do you care about the things of Jesus Christ? Do you pray and financially support missionary work? Are you spending money today that is stealing from your tomorrow? That's exactly what you are doing by overextending your credit to pay for that new car that you don't need, or two cars if you only need one, or buying home instead of renting if you live in an area where real estate is outrageously priced.
You can buy a home for $25,000 to $50,000 in the small towns outside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina (and a thousand other small towns in America). There are inexpensive homes all over the country. Why go into debt with a 30-year mortgage for a home that is selling for $270,000 in a bigger city? By buying a cheaper home that you can pay for in 7-10 years, you free up money to give to missionary work. Most Americans (including Christians) have very poor spending habits, because they have been indoctrinated to think that they must have all the latest toys, conveniences, dining out and materialistic things.
Please don't misunderstand, I realize that some families cannot give much money. A working father whose wife honors the Lord by being a mother at home with the children is not going to be able to support missions much. But you can pray! You can give something, even if it's $10 a month. ANYONE who's working a job can give $10 a month to support missionary work. Most of us ought to give thousands of dollars each year.
I learned and adopted a philosophy many years ago, that I will NEVER allow an offering plate in church to pass in front of me without me putting something into it. I NEVER let an offering plate pass in front of me where I fail to give. NEVER! If you can only give one dollar, then DO SO! Get into the habit of giving, always. Children should all tithe, even if a dime each. Get into the Biblical habit of giving to the work of the Lord. I don't believe in pounding people to give 10%. A godly pastor who walks with God and is on fire for God won't have to ask his people often to give, because they'll want to give so as to not miss out on an eternal blessing. Amen!
In late 2013, typhoon Haiyan caused a tsunami that destroyed 1900 church buildings in the Philippines. The average church gave nothing to help the afflicted in the Philippines. Baptist International Missions Philippine Typhoon Relief Fund. We should all give to missions work. I like BIMI because they are King James Only, Independent Fundamental Baptist, and don't pay their executives 6-digits salaries like the Salvation Army does. God servants shouldn't prosper from the work of Christ. I don't know about you, but I'm excited to give. I have a golden opportunity right now, today, to lay up treasures in Heaven.
The Bible teaches in Matthew 6:21 that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also! I love that! Most people think the opposite, that is, that where your heart is your treasure will follow. But that's not what the Word of God teaches. We are told that our heart follows OUR INVESTMENTS. In other words, if you invest in the work of Jesus Christ, your heart will follow. If you invest in missionary work, your heart will follow. It's a lot easier to pray for missionaries when you just sent the mission board a large donation. You can specify a particular missionary, or give to all of them by just donating. If you give financially and prayerfully, then you become co-labourers with the missionary(s) that you are helping.
I am a stickler about not supporting fat-cat so-called “charities.” I'd never give a dime to any charity or ministry that pays its top executive $100,000 a year. I couldn't care less about what most charities do. Paying a professed servant of Christ three times the average yearly U.S. salary is just plain wrong! Ministers of Christ are called to be servants. It's not wrong for Christians to work hard and become wealthy, just so long as they realize that all that money belongs to God, and they will be held accountable in eternity for how every dollar is spent, and they are rich toward God by giving to THE POOR (Luke 12:33; Sell That Ye Have!). We are all such lousy Christians! How many of us have sold personal possessions to give alms (financially aid to the poor)?
Jesus
told us not to spend a long time praying for ourselves (Matthew 6:7-8); but
rather, to beg God persistently FOR OTHERS in lengthy prayers (Luke 11:5-8).
Most of us pray only for OURSELVES, only thinking about OURSELVES, and
selfishly praying only for OURSELVES. The key to the Christian life is to
think about OTHERS, and to pray for OTHERS, and to unselfishly live for
OTHERS! We all need to get out of the SELF LIFE and stay out! A great place
to start is by supporting missions, and doing so will greatly motivate you
to live for God, because your heart will follow your investments. This is
good preaching!!!
Why We Should All Give To MISSIONARY WORK!
Every New Testament Church should support missionaries. Since churches are composed of individual born-again believers, then every individual Christian ought to support missionaries as well. We ought to have a GLOBAL, REGIONAL (Acts 13:4; 2nd Corinthians 8:5) and LOCAL vision. Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Matthew 4:19, “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
The Word of God ought to ignite a passion in every Christian believer to surrender ourselves to the Lord, and instill a passion for investing in missions work by giving. Acts 13:4, “So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.” 2nd Corinthians 8:5, “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”
Proverbs 19:17, “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.”
When you pray for missionaries and give financially to support their work, that makes you a co-laborer together with them in the Lord. God will reward you as if you were on the mission field yourself. Mark 9:41, “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”
*Make sure that you only donate to genuine Christian missionaries who are obeying The Great Commission, like BIMI (Baptist International Missions, Inc) and not a scam fat-cat charity that pays it's executives 6-digit salaries!
We are not as generous as what we give; but rather, what we keep
for ourselves! Think about that! When we give to God, we are really
just letting go of what is already His. Oh, how we ought to give to
God. May we graduate from spiritual preschool and start praying at
length in IMPORTUNITY FOR OTHERS, and may we give sacrificially to
the work of Christ, even selling our personal belongings to do so,
supporting missionaries who are faithfully preaching the gospel.
You're Only As Generous As What You Keep
In fact, Jesus promised to return our investment for His sake and the gospel's AN HUNDREDFOLD (10,000%) . . .
Mark 19:29-30, “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.”
Notice that the Bible plainly says you must give FOR JESUS' SAKE AND THE GOSPEL'S.
Oprah Winfrey is continually praised by the Godless mainstream newsmedia as one of the most generous celebrities in the world. She has been exalted by the wicked newsmedia as being amongst the top 50 most generous people in the world. WHAT A PATHETIC JOKE!!! Oprah has reportedly given away hundreds-of-millions of dollars to worldly organizations and a school that helps 150 students in Africa. What a joke! Do you know what Oprah Winfrey's net worth is? Oprah's net worth is a whopping $2,700,000,000!!! That's $2.7 BILLION DOLLARS!!! My friend, you are only as generous as WHAT YOU KEEP FOR YOURSELF!!! May I say, kindly, that Oprah Winfrey is very SELFISH!!! She has reportedly given millions, but she keeps BILLIONS!!! And may I also say, Oprah Winfrey has never given a single penny in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. A dime given in Jesus' name to a gospel preaching missionary will reap more eternal rewards than giving a billion dollars in one's own name!!! Oprah, Oprah, Oprah... Oh shut up!!!
It was missionary Jim Elliot (1927-1956) who was savagely murdered by the Ecuadorian natives when he tried to witness the gospel to them. Five missionaries total were martyred. Jim Elliot gave the ultimate sacrifice for Christ, losing his very life. Elliot is most famous for his quote, “He Is No Fool Who Gives What He Cannot Keep, To Gain That Which He Cannot Lose!” In sharp contrast to Elliot, Oprah keeps what she cannot give so she can gain what she never gave! Jesus said to “SELL THAT YE HAVE” (Luke 12:33-34) and give alms (help to the poor). We will never truly know what it means to be generous until we make the sacrifice to part with our possessions, and sacrificially give to OTHERS who are poor. When Jesus commanded us to SELL THAT YE HAVE, He was teaching us as His disciples to GIVE SACRIFICIALLY. The truth hurts doesn't it?
Proverbs 13:7, “There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.”
Every Christian ought to give to missionaries . . .
GENEROUSLY
JOYFULLY
CONSISTENTLY
PRAYERFULLY
There's no such thing as a part-time Christian!
I like BIMI a lot because they have field directors that monitor the missionaries, helping them and making sure that God's money is used wisely, effectively and honestly. They are King James Bible only and do believe it is inerrant. Also, I wouldn't give a dime to any ministry which is not held accountable financially. An independent audit is NOT acceptable, as many auditing companies are corrupt. I look at the missionaries themselves and what God is accomplishing on the mission field THROUGH THEM for Jesus Christ. I won't support the Salvation Army, because they pay their top executive $175,000 a year.
A Christ-centered ministry (which means servant) is not supposed to pattern themselves after the worldly charities who greedily pay their executives 6-digit salaries. A servant of God should only receive what they NEED to live, and not live extravagantly at the expense of the ministry. I want to vomit when scams are advertised on television to give sacrificially to help starving children in orphanages, telling the viewer how much difference that just $60 cents a day can make, while that charities top executive receives $350,000 a year salary. I think they belong in prison!
There's another mission board, IBM GLOBAL, whose missionaries I have given money to through my church, but I DON'T like IBM Global's Statement of Faith. I DO believe that their missionaries are being used of God to obey The Great Commission. The mission board's Statement of Faith says that they only believe the original manuscripts are WITHOUT ERROR. I have a big problem with that, because they are saying clearly that the King James Bible is not INERRANT. I know some dear pastors whom I respect who regularly correct the King James Bible; however, that is their OPINION, which they have every right to have.
I find no fault in the King James Bible. Just because something SEEMS that it could have been translated better, or differently, doesn't mean that it is an error. An “error” is when the New International Version removes the word “Godhead” completely from Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20 and Colossians 2:9. That's the only three times in the King James Bible that the word is mentioned, so the NIV has totally obliterated the word from existence. Also, don't look for the dear word “Calvary” in the NIV, because it's gone too!
Albeit, there are no perfect churches, church members, pastors, missionaries or missionary boards; but thanks be to God that we DO have a perfect Savior, Jesus Christ the PERFECT and SINLESS Lamb of God!!! And I believe that we do also have a perfectly preserved translation of God's inspired words in the authorized King James Bible. Thank you God!!!
The loneliest place in the world is the human heart if there is no love. The way to truly be rich is to help somebody else...
“Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological argument, but out of love.” —Roland Allen
65% Of
120,000,000, Citizens In Japan Don't Believe In God
[less than .05% (500,000) people profess to have any faith at all in Jesus
Christ)]. Japan greatly needs the Lord! 
237 countries,
7 billion people,
2/3 have yet to hear!
Baptist International Missions Philippine Typhoon Relief Fund (1900 church buildings destroyed!)
“If [God] has work for me to do, I cannot die.”
―Henry Martyn, Journal and Letters of Henry Martyn
Faith Children's Village In Zambia, Africa | About Their Ministry
