Where to Best Invest—Part One

Pastor Rick Warren opens this episode of Financial Fitness with a direct claim: you can take your money with you after you die. The key is to send it ahead. The Bible, he argues, describes a literal bank in heaven where believers can store up real treasure by using their money for God’s purposes. This is not a metaphor for good feelings. It is a financial transaction with guaranteed returns. Warren’s central argument is that God offers five specific investment funds, one for each of the five purposes of life, and that a wise believer diversifies their spiritual portfolio just as a wise investor diversifies their financial one.

Money as a Tool, Not a Master

Warren begins by drawing a sharp distinction between using money and loving it. He quotes the verse that opens the episode: “Tell people to use their money to do good.” The operative word is use. Money is a tool, not a treasure. If you love money, you will inevitably use people to get more of it. If you use money correctly, you will love people. This distinction is the foundation for everything that follows. Because money is a tool, it can be deployed strategically. And because the heart follows the treasure, where you put your money determines where your attention and affection will go. Warren offers a blunt diagnostic test: “If you want to know what’s important to Rick Warren, all you gotta do is look at two thing