INVEST WISELY
Wise investments are the mantra for a successful retirement. However the Bible advises us to invest with a longer viewpoint extending up to eternity. The tragic tale of Sodom is an illustration of how not to invest. When Abraham and Lot decide to part ways after their journey, Lot looked at Sodom and saw a prosperous nation and decided to invest his life and efforts there. However, Sodom got itself to a point of self-destruction with its blatant disregard for God. In Jesus’ words,
“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.(Luke 17:28,29)
Three things are described about Sodom. Firstly they indulged in eating and drinking. This represents an insatiable appetite for pleasure in its various forms. The life of a man in general is characterized by chasing after pleasure- anything that satisfies the body and the senses. While pleasure itself is not bad, unregulated pleasure outside the will of God is not only harmful to man, but also repulsive to God. On one hand, people starve because there is not enough to eat; yet there are others who have to contend with diseases caused by overeating. Excess and abuse outside the sanctioned will of God characterizes every pleasure that man is capable of, inviting God’s judgment.
Fervent buying and selling also characterized Sodom. This represents a devotion to and a greed for money. Everyone who buys and sells hopes to gain more money. Wealth and worldly possessions are meant to be handled from an eternal viewpoint- things that man has been temporarily entrusted with. Just like a banker who counts thousands every day but takes home none of those with him, we are called to have a perspective of being entrusted with worldly possessions that we need to be faithful with. However contemporary society lives with the presumption that money is God and gaining money at all costs becomes the motto of life.
People at Sodom were also busy planting and building. Man undertakes great projects in his life. He busies himself and exhausts himself with building worldly empires. He counts his worth by his accomplishments and strives to gain the admiration of the society he lives in for his efforts. However, at the end of a lifetime of effort and struggle, he can no longer cling to it, but needs to pass it on to some one else. Again, planting and building outside the will of God is essentially meaningless.
Common to all three is a rejection of the lordship of God and an erection of man’s own empire and a lifestyle that is entirely focused on the present physical world with no regard for eternal life. And that according to Jesus is a bad investment. Lot made a poor choice and ended up losing all that he chased and built for a lifetime. He barely escaped with his life as God destroyed Sodom. What Sodom was, is what most societies are today. There is a blatant disregard for God and a self-centered lifestyle that exalts and satisfies self. Jesus says that God’s judgment will be no different than it was for Sodom. And a wise investment is one that is done with an eternal perspective.
