But isn't it wrong to be motivated by reward? No, it isn't. If it were wrong, Christ wouldn't offer it to us a motivation.

Five minutes after we die, we'll know exactly how much we should have given rather than kept.

The currency of this world will be worthless at our death or at Christ's return, both of which are imminent.

Hudson Taylor and Charles Spurgeon believed that Romans prohibits debt altogether. However, if going into debt is always sin, it's difficult to understand why Scripture gives guidelines about lending and even encourages lending under certain circumstances. Proverbs says "the borrower is servant to the lender." It doesn't absolutely forbid debt, but it's certainly a strong warning.

It is by serving God and others that we store up heavenly treasures. Everyone gains; no one loses.

Shouldn't we suppose that many of our most painful ordeals will look quite different a million years from now, as we recall them on the New Earth? What if one day we discover that God has wasted nothing in our life on Earth? What if we see that every agony was part of giving birth to an eternal joy?

When you leave this world, will you be known as one who accumulated treasures on earth that you couldn't keep? Or will you be recognized as one who invested treasures in heaven that you couldn't lose?