By Roger Lam
By way of introduction, I am an untrained, independent, non-traditional missionary whose only proper instruction is in stewardship and generosity, directed and administered personally by the Holy Spirit for over a decade.
Besides helping the poor, my big thing is to unveil the deceitfulness of wealth, solely because it irks me a great deal that the only rival to God worthy of being singled out by Jesus is Mammon (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13).
How can money, a part of creation, compete for our affection and devotion away from our Creator? I have often likened this disgust of mine with David’s towards Goliath (1 Samuel 17:45).
The Great Mismatch
The most well-known Bible verse, across Christians and not-yet believers alike, is probably John 3:16 (it has such great evangelistic value that it’s been my car license plate in Hong Kong for almost 15 years):
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. (NIV, italics my own)
The reason for my highlighting the word “eternal” is that even though Christians by definition believe in eternal life that’s offered by grace through the death and resurrection of LORD Jesus Christ, behavior of the vast majority sadly focuses on optimizing our lives to prosper only on this side of Heaven.
A Form of Spiritual Blindness
Prosperity in itself is a good thing. It does a great deal of good to oneself, and also to others if used properly. There are countless references throughout the Bible that God wishes us to prosper, for all of eternity, not just on this side of Heaven. The pitfall is the love of money, a mere temporary currency (1 Timothy 6:10). Jesus Himself spent a good percentage of His ministry talking about money and possessions, more than any other single topic.
It is perhaps no surprise that Jesus was the only one, among all the prophets and apostles appearing in the Bible, who healed physical blindness. This fact had to have been supernaturally revealed to the man born blind (John 9:32). Money worship, in my humble opinion, is a more widespread form of spiritual blindness, which is most likely the reason why Jesus spent such a large chunk of His ministry devoted to battling this disease.
A Visual Illustration
The following is drawn from a spiritual download I received back in 2016 during a stressful dinner sharing in Shanghai (I’ve dubbed it “The Ultimate Truth About Money” in my first book, “Lost and Found: Money vs. Riches”).
Please refer to the number below. If you put your nose right above the deliberately supersized 120, you will miss out on the remaining zeros.
120,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
This integer was not randomly selected. 120 years is the maximum length of our lives on Earth that was foretold right at the beginning in Genesis 6:3. Despite thousands upon thousands of years in medical science advancement, that number still appears to hold true. The remaining string of zeros is meant to be a proxy for eternity, which does not do it justice.
The Shrewd Manager’s Foresight
In my humble opinion, one of Jesus’s least understood parables is the Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1-15). Given my lack of theological pedigree, I won’t attempt to unpack the whole thing for you. Having said that, I would like to share my two cents on why Jesus commended the shrewd manager – I believe it is him acting upon and planning ahead for a future reality that has yet to arrive.
This, friends, has huge implications with eternal consequences for us.
What Does the LORD Require of You
In addition to the guidelines given by the LORD in this regard in Micah 6:8, namely to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (which happens to be the exact sequence in which the Holy Spirit taught me about stewardship), Jesus spoke plainly with instructions for our eternal well-being in Luke 12:33:
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. (NIV, italics mine)
A Future Reality that Has Yet to Arrive
I am no Biblical scholar, so I am not going to dissect what the original word for “purse” in Hebrew or Greek is or its meaning, but in all the English translations that I have come across, it is either translated as purse, wallet or bag, which does not take a rocket scientist to figure out its purpose.
It could only mean one thing – there’s going to be a store of value of some form which we will need to carry around for all of eternity, a treasure in heaven!
Jesus loves us too much to want us to be fools, and took great length to warn us with the Parable of the Rich Fool, with the punchline being Luke 12:21:
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (NIV)
Subtle Difference Between Marginally Saved by Grace and Being Rich Towards God
Salvation is by grace of the LORD Jesus Christ alone (AMEN!). Numerous verses throughout the Bible suggest that not only are there treasures in heaven, but also the accrual of such reward is via conscious effort of storing up (Ruth 2:12, Matthew 6:20, Luke 12:33, Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Timothy 6:19, to name a few examples).
Take a look at 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. It illustrates the possibility of being marginally saved – only as one escaping through the flames – without receiving any rewards.
Star Wars Saga-led Inspiration
I am a big Star Wars fan, and this example came to mind to help get this point across.
Imagine being invited to watch all nine episodes of the saga sequentially (starting with Episode 1) in a movie theatre. Even though I have not added up each film’s running time, it should roughly be around 24 hours, a full day.
If you only marginally made it to the invite list by the host, it is standing room only by the entrance curtain; au contraire, if you curried a lot of favor with the host and are high up on the VIP list, then you will have the most comfortable reclinable seat, with unlimited drinks and snacks on offer upon request. Enough said, I trust.
Shrewd Plea
Do not be a fool and be duped by the deceitfulness of temporary wealth. Be real long-term focused with eternity in mind. Even if your change in behavior is not exclusively motivated by your love towards God, do it anyway out of genuine self-love. Plan for your eternal prosperity while there is still time – Jesus is returning very soon – and the world that He loves so much will become a better place as God’s kingdom expands. Shalom.