“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal,” (Matthew 6:19, 20).
Store up for you treasures in heaven. I think another word we can use for treasure is legacy. What do we live for? What do we want to see at the end of our life? What do we want to be remembered by? Non-Christians usually want to leave a legacy such as memories of how good they were, how much money they’d left behind and what difference they’d made to their world. Believe it or not, some think it good to leave a legacy of crime and hatred.
Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” What does this ‘life to the full’ or ‘life abundantly’ mean? Which of the two treasures does it involve? As Christians our legacy is not on earth. We live for heaven. We want to be remembered in heaven. Our actions are recorded in the book of life and we will be rewarded accordingly.
What we do on earth determine our heavenly life. There’s the story of the rich man and the poor man who went to heaven. The angel took them to their homes – a big one and a shack. The rich man, being used to his earthly comfort, assumed the big one was his. When the angel, however, assigned him the shack he disgustedly wanted to know why. The angel shrugged and said: “We could only build with the material you’ve sent us.”
Yesterday I was able to list earthly treasures we’ll find in our chest. We unfortunately don’t know what our heavenly rewards are going to be. All we know it’s going to be forever, so I’d rather live life to the full forever, than having lots of fun on earth, pleasing myself and be disappointed in heaven. Often when I minister like this, the flesh asks: ‘Why do you sacrifice all this time? You could have had...’ and then it lists all the comforts I could have had. Then I simply remember that one day in heaven I’ll be rewarded according to God’s promises. What we sacrifice on earth for Jesus’ sake, we’ll have in abundance in heaven. The Lord is just and those who sacrificed their lives for Jesus, such as those missionaries I’ve mentioned in my posting entitled ‘The Defender’, will have a much better resurrection than those who lived a comfortable, self-indulgent and religious life. “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection,” (Hebrews 11:35).
We need to live for heaven and be conscious of our heavenly treasure chest. It’s natural for a human being to accumulate. We accumulate things to aid comfortable living, money for a nest egg, friends to support us and contacts we can fall back on. As intelligent beings it’s wise to have something in the ‘bank’. But what do we have in our heavenly bank? Are we taking souls with us, people who would have been lost if it was not for our faithfulness? Do we give sacrificially to help others to reach where we can’t reach? Do we obey the Lord on a daily basis by exercising the gift we received from Him and multiplying the talents He gave us for the Kingdom’s sake?
Lord, I need to begin filling my heavenly treasure chest. Please guide me and give me the courage to sacrifice my earthly comforts.
Our weekly blessing to you:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).
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