Heaven's Currency
Once upon a time, a man worked hard all his life, and by the time he reached the age of 50, he had many companies and had become one of the biggest industrialists in his city.
One day while traveling in his car, the driver tuned into a local radio station. A saint came on and said, “No matter how much you beat your hands and legs, no matter what measures you take, you will bid farewell to the world the same way you came into the world.” He explained that whatever you have earned throughout your life or that which you have spent your whole life working for – house, money, fame – you can never take with you when you die. You will leave as you came – with nothing.
After listening to this, the industrialist started thinking that he had earned so much and he ought to find a way to take his earnings with him when he died. This thought consumed him for days to come and eventually he reasoned he would not be able to find the solution on his own; he had to involve others.
Soon after, he gathered all his employees together and made an announcement: “Whoever could give him an idea on how to take his money with him after his death would get the equivalent of Ksh 1 million.” It became the talk of his whole enterprise, but by the end of a week, no one had come up with an answer for him.
He gathered his employees once again, and this time announced: “I will give Ksh 5 million to the person who can give me an idea about how to take my money with me when I die and this offer is now open to both my employees and anyone throughout this city.” The announcement was posted to all local newspapers and announced on the radio stations.
A few days later, a man came to the industrialist’s house and asked to speak with him. He told him he had come to give him an idea but wanted him to first answer a few questions. He agreed, eager to get to the idea he had so waited to hear.
The man asked, “Have you ever been to America?”
“Many times,” he answered.
“What currency do you carry to use over there?”
“I change my currency for dollars,” he responded.
The man asked him the same question for 6 other countries before the industrialist realized they were going around in circles and put a stop to the questioning.
He said to the man, “What’s the point? Just give me the answer I’m looking for!”
The man smiled and said, “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. Just like you exchange the money of this country with the money of the country you will be traveling to, you have to exchange all your money with the currency of heaven before you die.”
Confused, the industrialist asked, “What do you mean? What is the currency of heaven?”
The man replied, “The currency of heaven is VIRTUE. Use your money in such works which give you virtue. This will be the only way to ensure your money goes with you when you die.”
This week I’m paying tribute to Dr. Charles F. Stanley, founder of InTouch Ministries who called it a day on 18th April 2023 aged 90 years. He was a pastor for 65 years, 50 of those as Senior Pastor at First Baptist Atlanta. He wrote over 70 books that sold over 10 million copies, and his radio broadcasts are transmitted around the world in over 127 languages. I found his sermons online, and they have carried me through many seasons with great encouragement.
He lived by the principle of ‘obey God and leave all the consequences to Him’. I do believe he carried his wealth in heavenly currency and today’s closing quote is a sermon extract from his work. He asked hard questions – as I contemplate my responses, you work on yours!
“Life goes by quickly - very quickly. And many people today who are in heaven or hell intended to live a lot longer than they did. They didn’t make any plans to die. They only had plans to live and enjoy themselves. So I want to ask you: What are you living for? What’s your goal in life? Do you have any real purpose for living? God says we ought to be living to worship and to serve Him. Because that, my friend, is life at its best.” ~ Dr. Charles F. Stanley, 1932 - 2023
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