I often visit with pastors and leaders.  Over the last five years, I’ve watched a movement emerge among the Christian leaders I know.  Nationwide, men and women are being captured by a vision for what I call “the generosity movement.”  The movement believes in the power of world-changing grace.  If believers would grasp the riches of the grace of God in Christ, and if we could view all that we have as gifts from God, and if we would allow God to order our priorities toward eternity, our world would be permanently changed.

In the first two weeks of this series, I talked about salvation and lordship.  Those two critical decisions are step one in the generosity movement.  In those decisions, we come face to face with the radical grace of Jesus and His authority in our lives.  In the third and fourth weeks, I talked about calling and stewardship.  These two decisions are step two in the generosity movement, and they orient our thinking so that we see our vocation and our resources as gifts from God. This week, though, is the “clincher.”  Listen as I discuss this vital decision.

The treasure decision is where life change can lead to world change.  This decision is where financial peace becomes financial freedom.  Only when we believe that the value of treasure invested in eternity is infinitely more than the value of treasure invested in earthly things will we experience financial freedom and will the world experience transformation through generosity. 

Matthew 6: 19 – 21 (NIV) says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” God is after our hearts.  True freedom takes place in our hearts, not in our checkbooks.  When you decide to place your priority on eternity, you will discover true freedom.

Believing that the eternal is more real than the temporal is very difficult to do in a tangible world that screams for our attention and care.  How do we lay up treasures in heaven?  Just as I encouraged you last week, I remind you today that the only way to live with an eternal perspective is to prioritize eternal things.  Prioritize your relationship with God.  Ask Him to show you where you can invest in the things of eternity.  You may have children, relationships with missionaries, relationships with widows and orphans, or other “investments” that God is calling you to pour into.  Ask Him to show you where eternity intersects with time in your own life and then move to put your time, talent, and treasure into those places.  Be amazed at the abundance of the grace that God will pour through you! 

Let’s be a people of generosity.  Let’s depend on grace.  Let’s prioritize eternity.