Store Up Your Treasures in Heaven
“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.
Matthew 6 also has passages about the Lord’s Prayer, about Worrying, as well as about fasting and giving to the needy. If you’re ever bored with nothing to do for a space of time pick up your bible and read the Book of Matthew chapters 5 through 7. This will give you a full dosage of our Lord’s teachings. He came to Earth not only to show us the way back to the Father in Heaven but also to teach us how to live here while on Earth. I can promise you if you are ready for the teacher to appear as a pupil, you will be enlightened.
This message came to me while working in my yard on Memorial Day weekend of 2023. I was going through some stuff that meant absolutely nothing to me today. I store things like a packrat. I’m so bad that I use a paper towel about 5 to 6 times before I throw it in the trash. I’m not sure if I’m being impeccable with my blessings or just being plain cheap. I know what my wife would say but still, this is how I was raised. When you grow up financially poor you don’t have a lot of substance, so you value very highly what you come about. Small things become more precious to you than to those who have much. When you are raised that way it is difficult to get it out of your system.
As I was going through my stuff which was really only trash, which it had been for the ten years I had not seen it or had any usage for it. I was telling myself to keep these things for later. The Holy Spirit spoke to me inwardly and said, “Where your heart is so is your treasure.” He told me this in a quiet way to throw that junk away. In fact, He even told me that if I really wanted it He would get me a new one if it was that I valuable to me. I’m the sort of person that keeps old screws that I took out of something that was trash thinking that I would need that exact screw one day. It was rusty but yet I kept it. That is just downright stupid if I can say so about myself.
This was one of those Holy Spirit teaching lessons showing me to place my value on things that count and not upon junk. I ended up throwing a lot of things away one by one as I picked up an item and heard the voice tell me to “throw it away!” After a while, I sat down being still, and the Holy Spirit reminded me of His scripture regarding storing up your treasures that are listed up above. That is when I recorded my Tik Tok message about storing treasures.
Think about it. What is in your heart determines the way that you go. It guides you in a lot of your day-to-day decisions. The heart is your guide. For followers of Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in your heart so therefore you see and feel according to the Spirit that guides you along the way. I was not always like this. Now that I have asked and received the Lord as my Savior and Guide, He has become very interactive in my life. At first, I fought against Him because I was so used to doing things the carnal way. The Holy Spirit wants us to do things God’s way. The two are usually in conflict with one another. We must determine which one to follow. God doesn’t force us to follow Him. That’s a decision you must willingly and intentionally make with your power of free will.
How does this relate to our treasures? Glad you asked. What are the things you consider to be very important? What do you dream about, hope for, wish for, and want very badly? Such things are what guide you in life. They propel you forward. If there are no propelling forces that guide you then you are spiritually dead. You’re going nowhere and doing nothing with the life God gave you. Some things are not good for us. They’re sinful and even harmful to the soul. Does God stop us from doing such things? No! But if you are a child of God the Holy Spirit will nudge you when you make such decisions. The issue becomes, are you willing to follow His lead? That is where I have been over the past few years, learning how to follow God’s lead intentionally, and with vigor.
I had to unlearn a lot of my old habits that were not Godly. Most of us are raised by the world that we live within. We are products of our immediate environments. As the world goes around you so do you go. Not always but more than likely. God sees you and knows exactly where you are at any given moment of your life. He knows which of His children will return to Him. Along the way He places people and things that nudges us towards Him. Scripture tells us that no one comes to the Lord unless the Father draws them near. The Lord Himself will do the teachings through the Holy Spirit. However, along the way, God uses much of that stuff that you learned inappropriately and turn it into things for the good. Things such as my cheapness can be used to be frugal but not cheap. To be thoughtful but not overthinking. What the devil does for harm the Spirit uses for the glory of God.
Once you are ready for God He turns everything around and rebuilds a new person in you throwing out the old harmful sinful things and retooling the things that can be used for His kingdom. Your old values become new. He keeps the good parts and refines the old. Once your value system changes more in line with the Spirit then you are prepared for service. With your new marching orders, your new treasures, you are resent out in the world storing treasures made for heaven. You help people and give the glory to God because it was He that retrained you for this mission in the first place.
This message could go very long and get very deep but let’s keep it short and simple. The things you place value upon are the treasures of your heart. If you value things that oppose God it corrupts the soul and will not reach heaven. If you store up things of God then they’re kept in heaven for you once you get home. In truth, the things upon earth will remain on earth, but the things of God stay with God wherever you are at the time. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven is a good example of this. When you do things for God it goes to where God resides. Once you leave the body then your soul also returns to God because you were made whole and complete while on the Earth.
Think about these things. Focus on doing good things but always do them for God. People just happen to be the recipients of our good deeds. Such treasures are mounted up in heaven as the body of God grows here on earth. Go back and read the scripture at the beginning and see if it has a new meaning to you now. To almighty God be the glory. Selah!