There’s a story in the Bible about Jesus watching people making their donations to the Temple in Jerusalem. But the one he drew attention to was a poor widow whose gift was two of the smallest coins then in circulation. He said she’d given more than anyone – not in monetary terms, but in what those two coins meant to her. It’s been estimated that if that tiny offering had been deposited in a bank at four percent interest, it would today be worth around four quadrillion dollars. If you don’t know how much that is don’t worry, because you and I will never see it.
But if the miracle of compound interest could produce that sort of effect on material investments, you get an idea of what Jesus meant when he talked about how our investments in faith and hope and love lay up for us a real treasure in heaven.