We all want to be successful and have enough money to take care of ourselves and our family. A little extra money would be nice too. Money is nice in this life, but it is finite and can’t be taken with us when we die. Spiritual wealth is infinite and we should spend more of our energy building that wealth which will last forever.
When we are doing financial planning for retirement, we can look at how much money we have and our average rate of return and figure out how much we will need to save to get to retirement with a good nest egg. We should also do some planning for our permanent retirement from this world. We need to look at our spiritual lives and figure out if we are on the right path to spiritual wealth. One of the ways many people find financial wealth in this life is by creating passive income streams. When people can find ways to get paid for something on a perpetual basis, they can become very wealthy. While we may not be able to take our wealth with us when we die, death doesn’t stop someone from making money. Elvis still makes tens of millions of dollars each year and he is not alive anymore, as far as I know. Death doesn’t stop someone from earning spiritual wealth either.
Look at the lives of the Saints. These people lived their lives in such a way that they continue to inspire generation after generation to grow closer to God. We shouldn’t only try to do good during our finite life, but also leave a legacy behind so we will inspire our children, grandchildren, and as many people as possible. God doesn’t just look at the good we did during our lives, but also the good we will do by inspiring others for years to come.
Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.” When we give into our own desires, we pay ourselves now. When we deny ourselves our selfish pleasures in favor of doing good to others, we deposit money in our spiritual bank account and that money comes with an excellent interest rate. Sure, we will all have hardships in this life, but Jesus asks us to take on those burdens. Let our suffering purify us just as fire purifies gold.
Just as we spend most of our lives building wealth so we can enjoy it in retirement, spend even more time building spiritual wealth so we can enjoy it as well during our final retirement in heaven. Look to the Saints for inspiration. Practice saying no to the things that give us pleasure now and focus on the pleasure of being with God in heaven forever. Our Father will look upon us and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”
