Treasures In Heaven

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.  

Matthew 6:19-20 

What can we do to prepare for an eternal future? As Christ is preaching the Sermon on the Mount, He draws a distinction between the temporal and the eternal. He clearly delineates the difference between the earth, and that which is earthly, versus heaven and what will last for eternity. He says we should not lay up for ourselves treasures on earth. As we have said before, this does not exclude appropriate care for basic necessities, rather it aims at a preoccupation with accumulating what will never last and is subject to corruption and loss. He turns our attention to what is, as He terms it, ‘treasures in heaven,’ pointing out that those things are incorruptible and incapable of loss. What is this that is eternal and incorruptible?  Mark 8 gives us help in our understanding, ‘For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?’ At the bare minimum, our soul is eternal. In fact, as far as Christ is concerned, it is of more value that all the tangible, temporal things we can accumulate in this scene of time. This brings the value of our soul into stark contrast with the vast wealth of the earth. Therefore, if we want to view reality from Christ’s perspective, we will begin to view wealth, and our attention to the accumulation of it, in a totally different way than what is common in our society.  

Our Wise and Gracious Savior, 
we rejoice that You teach us what to value most. 
We praise You that as we learn to view things from Your perspective, 
we begin to see the eternal more clearly. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning