Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
So my question is this......How do you define treasure? Merriam-Webster defines treasure as this:
1: wealth (as money, jewels, or precious metals) stored up or hoarded
2: wealth of any kind or in any form : riches
3: a store of money in reserve
4: something of great worth or value; also : a person esteemed as rare or precious
5: a collection of precious things
See, most of us define treasures the same as Merriam -Webster. We spend our lifetime acquiring treasures that the world says we should have.....Now listen, I am not saying that we have to get rid of everything that we have.....but we really should take a closer look at what exactly we are treasuring. If you look around at our society you will see that we as Americans have become obsessed with so many things. We have become obsessed with status, with looks, with technology, with sports, and just plain busyness. All of these things are here for a short time and then vanish like a vapor. Yet we find ourselves pouring everything we have into them......WHY? That is truly the question of the hour!
1 Timothy uses plain language to instruct us about the obsession of material gain. "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it."
1 Timothy 6:6-7 NIV
One of the best things God gave us was our free will. He freely allows us the opportunity to either choose to serve Him or choose not to. I honestly hate that part....the part where we can choose not to serve Him, but that is free will! We can choose to invest ourselves in the kingdom of God or we can choose not to.....sadly, in my own life I have seen times that I wasn't necessarily completely focused on the things that truly matter. I'm sure that you can say the same thing. It really confuses me because I fully understand the sacrifice that was made for me and yet there are times that I have taken that for granted and pursued my own agenda. Come on......haven't you?
So let me ask this, why aren't we more consumed with Christ and spreading the Good News?? I know I don't really have a good answer to that.......do you?
You would think that our desire to tell others how they could spend eternity with the Creator of all things would grow over time.....not diminish!! As we focus on the things that will last forever, we will be storing up treasures in heaven.....and those treasures will last FOREVER!!! Yet, we find ourselves, distracted and our worldview distorted as we go about our days focused only on the temporary things of this world.
God has made us for so much more! He has designed us so wonderfully unique and He has something special for each of us to do for Him! That is exciting people!! We were made with an eternal purpose!!! You heard me......we were made with an eternal purpose!! Then, because He loves us and desires our love in return, He gave us the option....we can pursue that eternal destiny and store up treasure in heaven, or we can pursue treasures that evaporate when stacked against eternity. So choose to make a difference for eternity!!
Barbette
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