“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich” Jesus urges the affluent yet impoverished Laodicean church (Revelation 3:18). Though surrounded by material wealth, their spiritual poverty incited Christ’s startling challenge to radically exchange earthly securities for heavenly treasures.
What does it look like to invest in imperishable spiritual wealth? Scripture points to forsaking trust in money, status, or abilities to instead rest in God’s generosity and care. “The LORD is my portion,” declares Lamentations 3:24. “Therefore I will hope in him.” The Amplified Bible renders Jesus’ familiar words, “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth...But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20). This represents far more than just waiting for a future heavenly payoff. We trade tangible present pleasures for even greater immediate riches through closeness with Christ.
Rather than chasing what rust and moths can decay, we cherish the eternal. Paul declared everything he once built his identity upon - pedigree, performance, and position - as “loss” and “garbage” compared to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). This soul-satisfaction in Christ alone empowers radical generosity and releases worldly anxiety over material needs.
What do you tend to trust in for security apart from God? Are you willing to surrender them to Him, exchanging temporary safety for authentic intimacy and freedom found only in Christ? Take your cue from Jim Elliot, martyred Ecuadorian missionary who wrote in college, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” In relinquishing our grip on lesser things to embrace Jesus instead, we gain infinitely more than we could possibly forfeit.