IRA's vs. IEA's

I heard Alistair Begg give a sermon yesterday on the radio.  He said that everyone is always talking about their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA)...how much is in it, when was the last contribution, what type of investments are in it, what has your return been, is it going to be enough, etc...?  People in America are obsessed with how much money they have set aside for retirement.

He then said that he is going to spend the rest of the sermon talking about our Individual Eternal Accounts (IEA).  How much are we contributing, how much is in it, how long do we have to contribute, etc...

That is a great question. 

As Dr. Jeremiah said, "If people had any idea that what they are doing on earth today will decide what their job will be for 1000 years (during the Millennium), they would probably pay more attention."

How about each of us?  If we truly understand and believe that we are working for heavenly, eternal rewards....then does our IEA reflect that? 

Luke 12
¹⁶ And he (Jesus) told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ (Move to Florida, golf, swim, read novels and eat at Applebees everyday!)

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ (Crap!  You mean I can't take my IRA and cash it in up in heaven?!) 

²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Friends, what if we have $300,000 in our IRA and very little in our IEA?  Should we be concerned?  Have we been spending more time managing our earthly treasure than we have managing our heavenly treasure?  What if we have a $500,000 home but can't remember the last time we studied God's word or made a disciple of Jesus Christ?

I have been a financial consultant for over 25 years and I can tell you a fact....most Americans spend more time planning a two week vacation than they do planning their entire financial futures...and most Americans spend way more time planning their financial futures than they do contemplating their spiritual/eternal futures.

So we can conclude that most Americans IEA's are VERY underfunded. 

How long can America stand if she is spiritually bankrupt?