Read: Matthew 6:19-21
Earlier this year, my parents introduced me to A&E’s Storage Wars. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the show before, but it’s actually pretty fascinating. For the uninitiated, Storage Wars chronicles a group of people who travel around the country buying up the contents of abandoned storage units (sadly, the show features no actual warfare…at least in the episodes I’ve seen). The crazy thing is that they have to buy these storage units at auction before they ever get to see what’s in them. While that doesn’t really sound like the best use of money, it can pay off if the storage unit contains something valuable. The men and women of Storage Wars travel around the country buying these units sight unseen in hopes that they’ll find something truly valuable tucked inside one.
What really fascinates me about the show is the amount of junk these “treasure hunters” find in these storage units. Most of the units you see on the show are filled to the brim with useless stuff. In order to find anything valuable, the “storage warriors” have to wade through mountains of old clothes, broken-down equipment and worthless knick-knacks. It’s ridiculous to see some of the garbage filling these storage units.
It was about the third episode of the show that the absurdity of the whole thing hit me. These storage units that were being auctioned off used to belong to somebody. Someone once thought all this junk was worth saving. Not only did they spend their lives collecting it, they paid for a storage unit to keep it in. They didn’t have enough room in their house, so they had to rent a house for their stuff to live in. They spent their money (not to mention their time) collecting things that would ultimately only collect dust. It just doesn’t make any sense!
Truth be told, most of us spend our lives investing in things that don’t really matter. A quick survey of my basement tells me that I’m just as guilty as anyone on Storage Wars. I’ve filled the lower level of my house with boxes and boxes full of useless stuff. I have cases of equipment I never use, bookshelves filled with books I never read, and cabinets stocked with things I’ll never need. I, too, have invested quite a bit of my life accumulating trivial stuff. I’d imagine a thorough examination of our homes would lead almost all of us to that very same conclusion.
In Matthew 6, Jesus warns us against investing our lives in such things. He knew how the treasures and trinkets of this world can cloud our thinking. He also knew all about our penchant for chasing the temporary at the expense of the eternal. So, He cautioned us about pouring our lives into things that don’t last. The greatest treasures break down with time. Even if they somehow lasted forever, we don’t. In this world, either our treasure will leave us or we will leave it behind when we die.
With that in mind, Jesus encouraged us to invest our lives in the eternal—to store up treasures in heaven. Rather than investing in things that don’t last, Christ’s followers are to be people who invest their time, talent and resources in that which is eternal. While Jesus certainly employed this imagery to speak about our investments in the Kingdom of God, I think there’s another aspect to this imagery we sometimes miss out on. You see, this world is full of something eternal, a thing that lasts forever. Chances are you’ve seen a lot of it today. In fact, you see it nearly everywhere you go.
I’m talking, of course, about people.
People are the ultimate commodity of eternity. God created mankind to live forever. Every man, woman and child you come across is an eternal being. Sadly, this isn’t completely good news. The Bible tells us that while some people spend eternity in heaven, others spend eternity away from God. Their sin and disobedience keeps them separated from Him for all time in a place that can only be known as Hell. For them, eternal life will not be a good thing.
That’s why we need to be sure we’re investing in people today. Our responsibility as Christians is to pour ourselves into other people, sharing our faith with them by sharing our lives. It’s the most important thing we can do. After all, bringing them to Christ today not only changes the course of their lives, it also changes the course of their eternity. As Tony Evans said:
“God tells us to wisely use our stewardship in something that has eternal value: people. When we stand before Christ…we will see how responsibly we used the time, talents, and treasures God gave us, and how good or bad our stewardship was for Him. We will see the impact we had on other people and how much we invested in others for eternity… We must see that people are important in God’s economy. God measures our effect on people not by how many dollars we have in the bank, but by how we have used our time, talents, and treasures to invest in the eternal destiny of people.”
How are you spending your money? How are you utilizing your time? How are you investing your life? Are you investing in temporary things? Or, are you investing in something eternal? There’s nothing greater you can do than invest your life in someone else’s eternity.
Questions to Consider:
What are you investing your life in? Who are you investing your life in? What evidence do you see of this?
Read Jude 1:22-23. What does this passage say about investing in others?