Treasures in Heaven

What is the general marker by which many people judge whether they have “made it” in life? Usually it is by the size or amount of their possessions, isn’t it? Or the amount of figures in their bank account? This pursuit of wealth may drive a person to extreme lengths to attain it, which, upon attaining, may often fill that individual with a false sense of accomplishment 

But according to the teachings of the Bible, a man’s life is not measured or made by the physical things which he can acquire, but instead by whether or not he spent his time storing up treasures in Heaven and is rich towards the things of God.

Luke 12:13-21  And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.

And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

This passage started with a man who had wanted Jesus to make his brother split an inheritance with him, but as Jesus told this man, the material things which you can have do not make up your entire life’s purpose. To this man, however, his desire for the world’s goods had caused him to covet things which were not his and hadn’t been given to him. And I think that you will find that there are many people just like this in the world today, who are so focused on the things that they can see but don’t have, and it causes this great, inordinate desire to obtain it somehow. This kind of desire is called covetousness, and it is a sin which the Bible warns about many times.

As we read in the second part of this passage of Scripture, the man in the parable had received an incredible crop that year, but what did he do? He stored it up for who? Himself. Himself and only himself, but what he didn’t know was that he was going to die very soon, so all of those things which he had stored away would then be of no use or profit to him, but if he had taken that extra windfall that he had received and used it to help others he might have stored up treasures and rewards in Heaven. 

Nothing that you can see on this Earth will come with you when you pass away. All of the gold, money, houses, everything will remain behind, but still people try to attain as much of it as they can in their lifetimes. Yet if they would simply take that time to be content with the simple things in life and use the rest of their time storing up their treasures in Heaven they will find that they will one day be the recipient of far greater riches than they could ever imagine, because the riches that will come from God upon those who dedicate their love to Him will be so great. 

Matthew 6:19-21  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

When you buy something such as a car, you generally want it to last a long time, right? You want to enjoy that vehicle for many years to come, and the same would go for a house. You don’t buy a house and expect to live in it for just a year or two before it is torn down, you want it to last. Well, I want my treasures to last, and the place that treasure will last the longest is not on this Earth. I want to be able to enjoy the rewards of my actions, not just for a handful of years, but for an entire eternity. I want my treasure to be in Heaven, so join me in this quest to start storing them up. The things of this world will last for a short while and then fade away, but the things in Heaven will last forever.

In Christ

Andrew