Where Are Your Treasures Stored?

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” –Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV).

Most of us have some treasures here on earth we hold dear.  Is it the “rat-pack” tendency in some of us (women, it seems, are prone to this characteristic) to accrue possessions with special meaning and value that is perhaps not in their monetary worth at all?  These we call “treasures” because they have deep sentimental value to us, recall a special person who made a gift to us, or a special occasion which we recall by the memento we’ve collected and hold onto.  Again, treasures may be things of monetary worth—perhaps a piece of furniture, a painting, a house and grounds, a car—the list could go on.

Jesus taught that the righteousness of kingdom citizens—Christians—needs to be worked out in perspective of both finite time and eternity.  He urged that we “lay up treasures in heaven.”  The question rightly comes:  How do we follow this admonition of our Lord?  We have a choice between activities that lead to greater earthly reward in the present life and those that store up greater future rewards in heaven.  Jesus gave insight into the meaning of laying up treasures in heaven elsewhere in the gospels.  In Mark 8:34-38 we gain insight into what Jesus meant by following Him and laying up treasures in heaven: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”  In Luke 12:13-21 Jesus gave a parable of the rich man who kept amassing abundant possessions and decided he would “eat, drink and be merry’ (v. 19).  But death came to the man and his treasures were left.  “So is one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).

Is this to say that we are to take no stock in earthly treasures?  Are we not to seek to provide those things that make life more comfortable and livable, like a good house, adequate money to meet needs, food, clothing, even some pleasure?  We have a moral responsibility to care for those in our family, and the necessities of living take effort and time to earn money for the needs of those in our care.  The important choice here is where our priorities are.  Are we greedy and grasping, with the idea of “the more I have the more I want?”  Have we no feeling of responsibility of bringing our tithes into the storehouse of God (the church) on the first day of the week?  Have we no desire to participate in authentic missions both with money, time and prayer? Our choices about possessions and what priority we place on them are directly related to our growth and development as a Christian.  You may have heard it said, “It is not wrong to possess things, but it is wrong for things to possess us.”  Materialism will enslave the mind and heart.  A proper attitude toward earning money through honest work and avoiding covetousness in possessions is Jesus’ way for us.  Laying up treasures in heaven is using all to which we have been entrusted for the glory of God.  We make our choices after deep consideration and prayer.