Live Generously for Eternity
I read a book in college where the author used an illustration that has stuck with me... Imagine I give you a pencil and a piece of paper. I ask you to draw a little dot. Then, starting at that dot, draw a line toward the edge of the paper, continuing right off the page.
What, do you imagine, this picture represents?
The dot is our life here on earth. The line, for those who trust in Jesus, is our life forever with him. The dot is minuscule, finite, short, temporary. The line is infinite.
So which one are we living for? Where are our hearts? The dot, or the line?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks directly to this, and he ties it, perhaps surprisingly, to our money:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
So how do we live for the line and not merely the dot?
One way is to refuse the endless race to accumulate treasures here on earth. Jesus warns us that our treasure doesn’t merely reveal our hearts. Our hearts actually follow our treasure.
Knowing that — perhaps the question of generosity is not simply, “How much of my money should I give away?” but, “How much of God’s money can I keep?”
When we give generously toward eternal things, we loosen our grip on the dot and set our hearts on the line, where Christ is, and where one day we will be with him also.
And this reminds us of our need to confess our sins, so please pray with me.
