A Faith That Works When Life Doesn’t: Part 5Sample

Do You Really Need Everything You Have?

Did you know there’s a bank in heaven?

There is! The book of Luke talks about storing up treasure in heaven. As a Christian, this should be the bank where you make the greatest investments of your time, talent, and resources.

In the book of James, the generosity of God toward his followers is emphasized in five different places. He says everything you have is because of God's generosity. You'd have nothing if it weren't for God. You wouldn’t even exist! Every good and perfect gift comes from God—it's all because of his generosity.

God's generosity with you should make you generous with other people. You should use what you’ve been given to help others.

Whatever you use to point people to Jesus Christ will be stored in your bank in heaven. You’re making an investment in eternity when you use your resources for the most important thing: helping people have a relationship with God.

One day a very wealthy man came to Jesus and asked him how to prepare for eternity in heaven. This man had far more money than he needed or could even enjoy. He wanted to know how he could have eternal life.

Jesus gave this man some investment advice: “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it” (Luke 12:33 NLT). In other words, liquidate some of your assets here on earth and send them on ahead to heaven, where your treasure will last forever.

What about you? Do you really need everything you have? Or is Jesus speaking to you through these verses—telling you to give some of what you have to help people who have a lot less?

When you’re generous, it changes your perspective on what you actually need. And, more importantly, every time you choose generosity, you’re storing up treasure in heaven.

Talk It Over

• Where do you invest most of your time, talent, and money right now? Do those investments reflect a worldly or an eternal investment?


• How has your desire for more earthly things kept you from focusing on eternity and helping people get to heaven?


• What do you think it looks like to have treasure in heaven?

This devotional © 2021 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.