Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Did you see that Forbes just released it’s list of the world’s richest people? Bill Gates tops the list this year, with a cool $79.2 billion! I heard an interesting thing about these people. It seems that 70% of them could be described as “self made” — they have not inherited their wealth, they have worked for it.

Now here’s a Friday-night Bible quiz. Are you ready? here goes. Of all the people enjoying their riches in heaven, how many are “self-made saints?” And the answer is … zero, none, not a one! Here’s what the Bible says about where their wealth came from:

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14)

What? Can I hear an appeal against the judges ruling? What’s that you say, “What about all that laying up in heaven stuff?” Well, yes. All those treasures in heaven were sent ahead … but how did all those saints find the things to do that allowed them to build up those eternal bank balances? Turns out Paul supplied the answer to that one in the same letter to the Ephesians:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Did you get that? We are not self made saints! God chose us, and He provided us with the jobs we can do so that we can lay up those treasures in heaven!

Now I don’t know how many of those billionaires are Christians. But I do know that if they haven’t sent real treasures ahead to heaven, they are the poorest of the poor. And if you’re as poor as a church mouse, but laying up a store in heaven — that’s rich!