MATERIALISM,
DECEPTION OF

THERE was a couple who had a cat. The woman loved the cat. The husband hated the cat. The cat would leave its hairs all over the place and it drove the husband insane.

One day the wife went on a vacation and asked her husband to take care of the cat for her until she returned. Well, he didn’t like the cat when the wife was home, so he certainly didn’t like the cat when the wife was gone. He took the cat to the local dock and found a boat. He put the cat onto the boat so he’d never have to see the cat again. The wife came home and, of course, wondered where her cat was. Her husband told her that the cat had gone and that he didn’t know where the cat was. This, of course, was the truth. He happily helped his wife look for the cat for a few weeks. She was distraught. Her husband said, “Honey, I love you so much. The cat’s worth like a hundred dollars, but because I love you so much, I’m going to put an ad in the newspaper. I’ll offer five thousand dollars to anybody who finds our cat.”

His wife was filled with appreciation. “Oh darling, the fact that you would put up that much money for a cat because of your love for me is wonderful! Now I know how much you love and appreciate me!”

The husband put the ad in the newspaper. One of his friends saw the ad. He came to the husband and said, “I saw your ad. You’re going to pay somebody five thousand dollars just to find a cat?”

The husband replied, “You have to understand. When you know what I know, no amount of investment is too much.”

When you know what I know about your eternal future, when you know what I know about your welcoming committee, when you know what I know, which is that all of these earthly things will burn, it changes your perspective. Sinners don’t know what I know. Sinners don’t know what you know. They think that this life holds all there is. They don’t know that God takes into account what you do in time for eternity. If you are a Christian, and if you know what I know, no investment for heaven should be too much. What you do in time will determine what you look like in glory.611

[Eternal Perspective; Money, Love of; Worldliness, Distraction of]

Matt. 16:26; Mark 8:36