“Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).

Let’s call this Jesus’ investment advice.

We should use our worldly wealth to make friends for ourselves. That’s what the unjust steward did.

Notice the reason he gives—”So that when it is gone.” What is the “it” Jesus is talking about? Money and everything money can buy. Money fails. Five minutes after you are dead, somebody else will have your money. Five minutes after death, your checkbook will be useless to you. On that day, it won’t matter whether you lived in a mansion with a swimming pool or in a hovel on the wrong side of the tracks.

Think of it. All you live for, the accumulated wealth of a lifetime, everything you dreamed about, every cent you ever saved, every investment, all of it gone forever. It fails you in the end.

After a rich man dies, people often say, “How much did he leave?” The answer is always the same.

He left all of it.

The question is not, “How much did you make?” The question is, “How did you spend what you had while you had it?” Did you buy houses, land, stocks, furniture, new cars, new clothes? Was that the goal of your life? Or did you make friends for God with your money?

Those are your only two choices.

The issue is not getting rich versus staying poor. It’s not between the stock market and Jesus. The issue is this: How did you use the money you made? Did you get rich for your own sake, or did you use whatever wealth you had to make friends for God?

Jesus said you should use your money to gain friends who will welcome you into “eternal dwellings.” That’s heaven. Jesus is saying we should use our money to make sure people get to heaven so that they will welcome us when we get there.

Will anyone be glad to see you in heaven? Will anyone hug your neck and say, “Thanks for making sure I got here?” Will anyone be there because you made friends for God with your money? When you pass through the pearly gates, will there be a standing ovation from the people you helped in this life? Or will all the things you spent your money on be left behind?

When Christ was born, God turned the values of the world upside down. Let’s invest in Christ’s kingdom because it’s the only thing that will last forever.

O Lord, save us from investing in things that will not last. Help us to live so that in 10,000 years we will have no regrets. Amen.

Musical bonus: Phillips, Craig and Dean give a country twist to their version of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen/We Three Kings.