FAITHdare #19: Eternal Investments

To be honest, I'm having a hard time coming up with "money dares." Why? You'd think with my verbosity I could come up with SOMETHING, but I think Jesus pretty much gave the greatest "money dare" anyone could ever issue, and so that leaves me with, well, reflection over HIS dare:

"'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven'" (Mark 10:21).

Now I know someone is going to say this, so I might as well say it...no, I am not taking this verse "in context." But this verse reminds me of another passage, Ecclesiastes 5:10-15:

¹⁰ Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.

¹¹ As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?

¹² The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.

¹³ I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

¹⁴ or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when he has a son
there is nothing left for him.

¹⁵ Naked a man comes from his mother's womb,
and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor
that he can carry in his hand.

Tonight I was talking to someone whose family is spending a large sum of bonus money earned through work to bring two orphans into their loving home. This someone's family has already adopted (more than once), and many would say, "You've done your 'duty!' Use that money to take a vacation!" But you know what I realized as I was talking to her? She and her family are really getting the good end of the deal! They are investing in things that last...not in vacations and television sets and grand homes, but in lives! They GET IT! They are taking the ultimate "money dare," from the lips of the one who gave up His LIFE so that we really can invest in what matters--ETERNITY! This family can be certain that, should their lives end tomorrow, they have invested in kingdom wealth--a wealth that will not fade, spoil, or perish.

If you take a good look at your life, can you honestly say at the end of the day that you are investing your short-term, earthly wealth in eternal things?

Because I don't think I can say it any better than Solomon:

"Naked a man comes from his mother's womb,
and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor
that he can carry in his hand."

If you were to die tomorrow, would you have any investments to cash in when you stand before Jesus? Or did you leave all those behind?