The Ultimate Investment Plan

 “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, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” MATTHEW 6:19-21

 

PONDER THIS

What are your personal goals? What consumes you? What do you think about most? What are your greatest energies directed toward? Is it buying a house, retirement, getting a car, a particular vacation, or so-called security?

Are you more consumed with that than with growing in Christ? Are you consumed with sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The devil can take something that’s good in second place, put it in first place, and then make it bad! Here’s a hard but telling question: Is there any material possession you would not gladly part with for the glory of Jesus Christ?

Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, but people will sell out for a whole lot less than that. Judas sold out for thirty pieces of silver, Esau for a meal of stew. We can be short-sighted and materialistic and lose the priorities of our faith in the process. We can get so caught up with things on Earth that will not last that we forget to invest in the one thing that will last forever. When Christ is the one who consumes us and directs us, we have all we need in Him. We don’t have to worry about the rest or hold onto this life.

What most threatens your focus on Christ?

How can you remind yourself of the value of Christ above all daily?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and tell God how you struggle with materialism and ask Him to help you keep your eyes fixed on Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

Isaiah 41:13

    [13] For I, the LORD your God,

        hold your right hand;

    it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

        I am the one who helps you.”

2 Timothy 1:7

[7] for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Hebrews 13:6

[6] So we can confidently say, 

    “The Lord is my helper;

        I will not fear;

    what can man do to me?”

1 John 4:18

[18] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

The Root of Ingratitude

Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

When gratitude springs up in the human heart toward God, he is magnified as the wealthy source of our blessing. He is acknowledged as giver and benefactor and therefore as glorious.

But when gratitude does not spring up in our hearts at God’s great goodness to us, it probably means that we don’t want to pay him a compliment; we don’t want to magnify him as our benefactor.

And there is a very good reason that human beings by nature do not want to magnify God with thanksgiving or glorify him as their benefactor. The reason is that it detracts from our own glory, and all people by nature love their own glory more than the glory of God.

At the root of all ingratitude is the love of one’s own greatness. For genuine gratitude admits that we are beneficiaries of an unearned bequest. We are cripples leaning on the cross-shaped crutch of Jesus Christ. We are paralytics living minute by minute in the iron lung of God’s mercy. We are children asleep in heaven’s stroller.

The natural person, apart from saving grace, hates to think of himself in these images: unworthy beneficiary, cripple, paralytic, child. They rob him of his glory by giving it all to God.

Therefore, while a man loves his own glory, and prizes his self-sufficiency, and hates to think of himself as sin-sick and helpless, he will never feel genuine gratitude to the true God and so will never magnify God as he ought, but only himself.

Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Jesus did not come to minister to those who insist they are well. He demands something great: that we admit we are not great. This is bad news to the arrogant, but words of honey to those who have given up their charade of self-sufficiency and are seeking God.

John Piper

It’s All About God’s Timing

“These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season.”

PSALM 104:27
 
PONDER THIS

Some people are tuned into God, while others are not. What does it mean to wait upon God? It means to long for Him, to listen to Him, and to look for Him to be a part of your life. It also means to look to Him. Do you believe God is going to take care of you? Are you looking to Him? Do you long for Him? Do you listen to Him? Do you look to Him like the animals, the birds, and the beasts of the forest look for their food in due season. That’s what it means to wait upon Him. Do you really believe God can meet your needs? We can say with our mouths that we believe that it’s true, but has this truth taken root in your life? Do you believe God can meet your needs? Or are you looking somewhere else?

Being tuned into God means living for Him. It means your life is hidden in Christ, your old ways have died, and you live like Christ, looking to Him for how to live. Wait upon Him!

How have you experienced waiting on the Lord? What have been the challenges of waiting on the Lord?
Where are the places you look to find help outside of God? What helps you look to Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Tell God about the ways you struggle to look to Him and wait on Him. Ask Him for endurance to trust Him daily.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Bible Study

Colossians 3:17

[17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:15

[15] Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

John 14:13

[13] Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

How to Magnify God

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30)

There are two kinds of magnifying: microscope magnifying and telescope magnifying. The one makes a small thing look bigger than it is. The other makes a big thing begin to look as big as it really is.

When David says, “I will magnify God with thanksgiving,” he does not mean, “I will make a small God look bigger than he is.” He means, “I will make a big God begin to look as big as he really is.”

We are not called to be microscopes. We are called to be telescopes. Christians are not called to be con-men who magnify their product out of all proportion to reality, when they know the competitor’s product is far superior. There is nothing and nobody superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is.

That’s why we exist, why we were saved, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God.

This is what it means for a Christian to magnify God. But you can’t magnify what you haven’t seen or what you quickly forget.

Therefore, our first task is to see and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So we pray to God, “Open the eyes of my heart!” (Ephesians 1:18), and we preach to our souls, “Soul, forget not all his benefits!” (Psalm 103:2).

John Piper 

A Song of Thanks in Every Season

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. EPHESIANS 5:20

 

PONDER THIS

When should we be thankful? This verse says “always.” If he had said “sometimes,” it wouldn't be so hard. Why always? Because every day we receive a fresh delivery of benefits.

Also consider these promises: "Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits" (Psalm 68:19, KJV). The Lord’s mercies and compassion are “new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:23, KJV).

With my first waking thoughts, first thing out of bed, I try to lift my heart to God in praise. Develop the habit of saying, “Lord God, I love You, I praise You. Your mercies are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness.”

What should our thanks be for? For all things. During loss and heartache, you can thank Him for your faith. Thank Him that you're saved and on the way to Heaven, "singing to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…making melody in your heart to the Lord” (see Ephesians 5:19). If you're a child of God, whatever your condition is, you ought to be able to thank God every day. No matter what happens, thank Him for your faith. If you have food to eat, thank Him for your food. If you have clean water to drink—and many don’t—thank Him for clean water. Do you have friends and family? Thank Him for them!

One of the greatest acts of faith that you can ever perform is just simply to say, “Oh God, no matter what, I will praise you. I will bless you for all things.”

When life brings both blessings and burdens, how can you choose to see God’s faithfulness and offer Him thanks “always”?

Are you in the habit of beginning your day with gratitude, lifting your heart to God in praise for His daily mercies? If not, today is the best day to start.

PRACTICE THIS

This week, start each morning by speaking aloud a word of thanks to God before checking your phone or rushing into tasks. Pause and say: “Lord, I thank You for Your new mercies today. Great is Your faithfulness.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers