This is all temporary. It will come to an end. The world that we see around us and all of our lives, all that we have worked for, everything will come to and end.
James speaks to the rich people who have oppressed their workers when he says:
Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.
James 5:2
Very often, whether we are rich or we are poor, we find ourselves focusing on those things that are temporary. We focus on the things that are right now. More money. More power. More influence. More fame.
Yet those are all things that are simply destined to pass away. Everything that you can see around you today will one day soon be gone. In fact, you may be gone first, but then it will be gone shortly after.
That which follows and marks our time here on the earth will not be our stuff. Even if you are extremely rich, give it a little time – two or three generations, let’s say – and it will be gone. Wealth has never lasted very long. Companies have never lasted very long. Estates have never lasted very long. We can even look in the rearview mirror and see empires. Even the longest-lasting empires haven’t lasted that long. It is temporary.
So where will we invest? Will we invest in that which is temporary? Or will we invest in the eternal? Our investment in the temporary is nothing but foolishness. But our investment in the eternal is wise beyond our years.