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HERE'S $2 MILLION. WHAT WILL YOU DO?
Imagine your rich uncle is on his deathbed. He
wants to give you two million dollars in his will but is
unwilling to do so unless you agree to the following
conditions:
1) you must spend the money within one week
2) you must spend it on tangible assets (i.e.
no stocks, bonds, insurance)
3) you must keep all of your assets at your
house
Under these conditions, would you still accept
the money? I thought so. What would you spend it on? Take a
moment to think about it. You can’t give it away. You already
agreed to spend it (and you don’t have much time). Would you
get a new house? Some new clothes? A new car? If so, what
kind? What else would you buy?
Would your decisions be different if you knew
a little bit of the future, namely that there will be a huge
fire at your house a month after you receive the money? In the
inferno the flames will engulf everything you buy with
your inheritance.
How would your spending decisions be affected
if you knew about the fire beforehand? Houses, clothes, and
cars won't fare very well. Can you think of any assets which
can survive a fire?
God Himself warns us about an upcoming fire in
1 Cor. 11-15:
No one can lay any foundation than that which
is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the
foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble--each man’s work will be come manifest; for the Day
will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and
the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the
work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he
will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will
suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as
through fire.
To make wise decisions during our short time
on earth, we must constantly remind ourselves, "There’s a fire
coming! Don’t forget about the fire! Don’t become enamored
with wood, hay, and stubble!"
How tragic that many Christians have never
heard about the upcoming fire. How tragic that many have read
this passage but don’t take it seriously. God is urging us to
invest our lives in things which are eternal.
Last summer my family went to a family reunion
at the beach. My kids and their cousins started building a
castle in the sand. They worked hard on it and did a nice job.
Unfortunately, the tide was coming in. All of a sudden an
unusually large wave swept over the castle, and it was reduced
to a couple of big lumps in the sand. A minute later a second
wave hit. The big lumps became little lumps.
The kids didn’t say a word. I can still
picture them, with sand on their hands, their mouths hanging
open in disbelief. All that work for nothing. Magnify their
feelings by a thousand fold and you might get a sense of what
awaits many people at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Are we building empires of wood, hay and
stubble? Let’s live every day like we believe God is telling
the truth--there’s a fire coming!
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