“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Cor. 4:18
A couple of weeks ago we decided to move the business office to a new location in our building in order to better utilize our office space. I have spent the better part of last week going through files to prepare for the move, a process that is forcing us to review and throw out old records that are no longer needed. This is good, as it will create more usable office space. It also caused me to wonder why we have kept so many records in the first place. Good record-keeping is important. Ultimately, however, old records get thrown out.
All of the donations and gifts received here at the Prayer League are gifts given to the work of God’s mission. It is essential to treat these funds with proper care and to make sure they are handled with integrity. Accurate record-keeping is an essential tool for this purpose. Records help us analyze how funds have been used in the past and can help us make better decisions in the future. Financial records also help us to be accountable to each other. Records are very important; but they are temporary in the end.
The work reflected in these records, however, is not temporary. Financial records are used to facilitate and keep track of work that has eternal implications. Last week I reviewed receipts from the purchase of hospital supplies, radio equipment, and Bible translation materials. We also have records of allowance payments to evangelists, teachers, medical workers. Some of the expenses were very big, while others were barely noticeable, but all of them were made with an eternal purpose in mind.
When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about temporary and eternal things, he no doubt had heavier things in mind than mere financial records, but the principle seems the same. Financial records are necessary and important, but they are temporary items, destined to be thrown out one day. Good works done in the name of Jesus, on the other hand, can never be thrown away, destroyed or lost; they will last forever.