Over the past few years, my stock portfolio was growing so slowly that I decided to sell everything in it (minus the profits) and just invest in real estate. It was probably the best move I made, not just financially, but also from a standpoint of time. My mistake? Rather then diversify into some great mutual funds, I had all of my money in individual stocks! If you have ever invested in individual stocks before, you know the type of roller coaster ride you can have with that! As a result, I would normally wake up every morning to catch up on any news related to my stocks and check the latest and greatest price. What a consuming habit that was!

Now, with rental homes, as long as I don’t have some crazy stalker living in it, it’s usually a lot less time-consuming. Being a real estate agent helps with the tenant acquisition process and having the homes in my neighborhood helps with the time it takes to manage them. I guess if I were to rate it on a scale of 1-10, I’d give my stock portfolio a “3” and my real estate portfolio a “7”….but what type of rating would I give my portfolio in heaven?

I belong to a weekly small group with 9-10 other families and we just finished a lesson about storing up treasures in heaven. It’s part of a 13 week study on the Sermon on the Mount and this week it focused on Chapter 6:19-24.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

After hearing a sermon about this, the pastor brought up an interesting point. How do you measure the performance of your portfolio in heaven? Or similarly, how do you “store up treasures in heaven?” Basically, the message behind the passage is that God wants us to be free from the unhealthy and temporal motivations that direct our actions here on earth. Instead, God wants our lives to have an eternal perspective and wants us to be motivated by Him and what He offers us in Heaven.

In a nutshell, here were three suggestions he gave, that he calls the GRE Index:

Be Generous – are you reflecting the love of God (Matthew 10:42)?
Seek Righteousness – are you living out the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)?
Have Enthusiastic Zeal – are you doing everything with an attitude that honors Jesus (Colossians 3)?

Bottom Line: Retirement is over-rated…we’ll all live forever and out-last the retirement we build here on earth. So what are you doing about your eternity?

As a fairly new real estate agent in Georgetown Texas, I’m always checking out other real estate websites to get ideas on how to improve my own business. About a month ago, I saw a website that featured the agent who owned it and it had a picture of him volunteering on the construction of a home.

Man, that looked so cool! Here was a real estate agent, getting his “hands dirty” with some good ‘ole fashioned volunteer work. What a neat way to show current and prospective clients that he wasn’t just in the business for the money, but willing to give back to his profession!

Ever since then I’ve been wanting to do the same thing. I could picture myself taking a missions trip down to Mexico and getting a nice shot of me with a hammer in my hand. I could then showcase that on my website and get some positive publicity! Maybe even show people the “more personal” side of Edward Lui.

Well, my bible study group at Hill Country Bible Church in Georgetown, Texas has recently been studying the Sermon on the Mount. It has got to be the greatest sermon ever preached and Jesus uses it to blow the Pharisee’s interpretation of God’s law out of the water and teach us the heart of what God really wants. I started reading the lesson for next week this morning:

“Be careful not to do your “acts of righteousness” before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.“ – Matthew 6:1-4

Woah, wait a minute here! This is exactly what I was guilty of! Jesus obviously uses hyperbole when he talks about not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing, but the point is that we need to be conscious of our motives for doing “good.” There’s certainly nothing wrong with volunteering and helping out. But I think we all need a heart check once in a while to make sure that we’re doing these things for God and not for the praises of men (or clients!). Because if we do, our reward is already given. I love it how Jesus unashamedly motivates us to do good for the rewards we will get in heaven. This has nothing to do with earning your salvation, but everything to do with motivating the Christ-follower to do good.

This is a tough teaching. As a leader on my church’s Missions Team we have discussed advertising our accomplishments in Mexico to the community to generate buzz and interest in our church. Now I’m wondering if that’s the right approach. There certainly is nothing wrong with advertising an upcoming mission trip to the community to gain support, but is that the same thing as posting what we have already done? Are we just blowing our trumpets? Even if the goal is to increase membership and interest in the church, do the means justify the end?

My “pharisee tendencies” have indeed been challenged by the power of God’s Word. What about you? Am I taking this a bit over the top? I’m certainly not advocating going to your next soup kitchen with a bag over your head, but the next time you “advertise” the fact that you’ve done or are doing volunteer work, remember this verse and give yourself a heart check…and start stocking up the rewards in heaven.

A few weeks ago, I was shopping for a minivan and had a choice between, a Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna and Nissan Quest. They all seemed so similar…and were rated top-notch when it came to safety. It seems as though they all had the same power door features, DVD and leather that we were looking for and the prices weren’t too much different either. I eventually settled on the van that I could get the best deal on…my 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE…tan, not gold.

After reading through my manual I found out that Toyota “recommends” premium fuel, but you can put a minimum of a 97 octane fuel (regular) in the van. I was about to fuel up at HEB for the first time when it came time to make a decision. Do I want to put premium fuel in this van? Do I want to be cheap and go regular? Will it make THAT much of a difference? I had to decide quick because it was hot outside, the engine was off…and I had the kids with me! I pulled down the windows and punched the button in the middle that read “99” for the mid-range fuel. That seemed like a fair compromise. I mean, what difference would it really make?

It seems like everyday we are faced with choices. Mine usually revolve around the orange traffic light. Do I gun it? Or do I apply the brakes? (gun it!) Are there really “right” choices and “best” choices out there? How do we know we’re making the best decisions in our life?

Is the same true of religion? Do all the differences in religion really matter as long as the people who follow them are doing “good?” If they are so similar, does it matter which one we follow?

If you’re interested in exploring these questions in an accepting, intellectually-honest and challenging environment, I want to invite you to meet an awesome group of young adults that meets every other week in Georgetown Village. We focus on caring for each other and exploring the truths that affect us in every day real life. That’s why we call it a Real Life Group.

We’ll meet at 7PM on Tuesday the 18th and every other Tuesday after that. Childcare is provided. Feel free to call me at 512-554-9594 for directions. Hope you’ll come and learn with us!

~Edward