True Treasure

True Treasure

Investing in the Eternal

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:21

The phone rings and you don’t recognize the number.  Should I answer it? ‘It’s probably a telemarketer’ you think to yourself.  If it’s important, they’ll leave a message…but what if they don’t?  So you answer the phone, only to hear the all familiar voice reading from a script that ends with “can I count on you to donate a quick $xx”?  

Annoyance, frustration, feelings of guilt, anxiety over confrontation, what emotions come flooding in and why?  Besides irritation at the uninvited intrusion, is there something threatening us here?  In our more and more connected world, it can seem like everyone is constantly asking us to share our treasure, our hard-earned money.  In our current circumstances with great economic unknowns staring at us from some mysterious future, our desire to cling to our treasure may be even greater.  

But what is our treasure actually?  In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says “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.”  

How do we invest in heavenly things?  We have to remind ourselves that true treasure is not found in a number on a bank statement or a computer screen hypothetically telling us how much we have.  True treasure is found in the relationships that we have with each other and with our creator and savior God.  These are the treasures that will last into eternity.  Jesus understood this, and so he invested everything, even his life so that he might receive a rich return in you and me.  

Thoughts for Consideration  

During this quarantine season, where are you investing your time and energy? Could this be a time to invest in relationships that often receive less attention?  

Is Jesus your treasure? Is your heart near or far from him? Does the latter question inform the first?  

If Jesus is not your treasure, what temporary treasures have you put in his place?  Remember that at the cross Jesus paid the price for all of our idolatries.  Even the ones we are struggling with today and now.

All Saints Contributor - Chris Steinbarger