November 17, 2012

 “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 treasures 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." Matthew 6:19-21

 

I am late posting this because I have been preoccupied with comforting a friend who just lost his young wife in a tragic and senseless accident. It has been a challenge because she not only leaves him behind but also three young children and one of them found her body.

 

Comforting him has also been difficult because he is 1,200 miles away. They are members of my church who recently relocated to get a fresh start on life. Well, I guess you can say that yesterday she did. She relocated. But she leaves them a whole new series of readjustments.

 

So, I am in the middle of processing all this and trying to help him process it and what better place to turn than the Word of God? The Spirit of God keeps leading me to this Scripture. I am not sure why except I have been preaching and studying about stewardship and suddenly tragedy intrudes on me and I am thinking about heaven. I guess this verse combines those two concepts.

 

In this portion of Scripture Jesus tells us that there is a safe place to hide our valuables and heaven is that place! It is where one of this young man's most valuable possessions now resides.

 

Recently Barbara and I switched from a large national bank to a small local credit union. One of the first things we did was to ask about a safe deposit box where we can put the few valuable things we own. There was a waiting list. So we got on it and we waited.

 

Not to long ago we got that call that it was our turn to have a box. One was available for our stuff. So we gathered up our stuff and went to the credit union. The woman in charge of the safe deposit boxes escorted us into the vault where the boxes are, showed us our box and opened it for. We put our valuables in the box and she locked it up and we walked out feeling our stuff is safe and secured inside a locked box that slides into a heavy metal case that is locked in a vault that is located inside a secured building.

 

We found a safe place to hide our stuff. We all need a safe place to secure our valuable stuff.

 

Jesus is telling us that Heaven is a safe place to hide our stuff. In fact, there is no safer place to put is because no thief will break in there and there is no mold or rust. We can't take our stuff there but we can send it ahead by investing it in the things that matter to God - people.That lends a whole new significance to stewardship.

 

And Jesus mentions that the more valuables we hide safely in heaven, as we get more invested there, the more our hearts get drawn there. The more treasures that get sent there the more we want to go there.

 

As you invest your time and tithes and talents in the Kingdom of God the more deposits you are making in heaven. They are safe there and they are there forever! You will never lose them.

 

That is true of our valuable stuff but it is also true of our most valuable relationships! Your most valuable treasures that are laid up in heaven may be a mother or a father or a grandparent or a brother or a sister or even a child. And as those treasures accumulate in heaven, your heart begins to long for that place as well.

 

This young man and his three boys now have another treasure laid up in heaven. Jesus came and got her and led here into that place that He had purchased and prepared for her. She is safe and secure and enjoying the things that she has sent ahead.They can find comfort knowing she is in that safe place and find their hearts turning more toward heaven.

 

How about you? Have you found a safe place for your valuables?