Treasure Part 1 of 4

Treasures In Heaven

Part 1- What Is Your Treasure?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Part 1 – What Is Your Treasure?

Part 2 – Where Is Your Treasure?

Part 3 – How Do You Store Up Treasure?

Part 4 – How Do You See Treasure Clearly?

Question: What does Christ mean by treasure?

In order to think about Matthew 6:19-21 clearly, it is helpful to make a distinction between possessions and treasures. The Greek word translated “treasure” is thesauros which means “the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up.” I think the best definition for treasure, in the context of Matthew 6:19-21, is: “something that is very special, important, or valuable.” See Note 1

In the context of this article, I define the word “possession” to mean any form of worldly belongings or assets. All men, in some form or another, have worldly possessions. Whether it is your savings account, your 401K, your house, the clothes on your back, or a little food that you have saved for your next meal, no man is completely without worldly possessions.

To review…a treasure is something that is very important to you, and a possession is just something that belongs to you. You have many possessions, but not all of your possessions are treasures. My sock drawer and my toothbrush are my possessions, but my heart does not lie with my socks and my toothbrush.

I make the distinction between possessions and treasures because I think it is important to point out that although Matthew 6:19 warns against storing up earthly treasures, it is not a prohibition against storing up earthly possessions. It cannot be a prohibition against storing up earthly possessions because this would be impossible.

So if Matthew 6:19-21 does not mean that men cannot store up worldly possessions, what does it mean? Matthew 6:19-21 is a passage about what it is that we treasure. It speaks to how we spend and invest our lives. Are we investing our life on earthly treasure or are we investing our life on heavenly treasure? Are we more motivated to store up earthly treasure or are we more motivated to store up heavenly treasure?

Matthew 6:19-21 is a call for us to become expert appraisers of value. It is a call to change our truth system such that we change what we consider valuable. Do I see life clearly such that I know what God values vis-à-vis what the world values? What is worth spending my time on? What is worth spending my earthly possessions on? What is worth spending my mental energy on? What is worth spending my emotional energy on? What is worth teaching my wife and children? The goal of the Christian life is to transform our minds such that we value eternal treasures more than earthly ones, to learn what efforts lead to heavenly treasure, and what efforts have no eternal value.

Questions:

Do you know how to invest in eternity?

When you evaluate your time allocation, are you “storing up treasures in heaven”? When you evaluate the focus of your thought life, are you “storing up treasures in heaven”?

Is there a way you could live your life that would lead to more treasures in heaven than how you currently live?

Note 1 – Taken from Merriam-Webster online dictionary.

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