Treasure!

Treasure!

‭Matthew 6:19-21 NIV‬

[19] “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The world has treasures, and it offers them to those who belong to it. The world also offers options on how to keep these treasures safe, because the same world offers options to those who would seek to take these treasures by force or by false pretences. That is the irony about the world: ready to offer you its precious possessions, but also ready to offer others around you the opportunity to deprive you of what it had given you. The people of the world would pursue after these things, sometimes at the expense of their lives, yet you cannot secure any of your possessions for all of eternity. They are only good for a time or season, and then, you either give them up to another whilst you are still alive, or you are eternally separated from them when death comes. It is this reality and understanding that must drive my attitude and response to the things that are around me. 

The verses above make clear what the right attitude must be. There is acknowledgement that we need provisions for the journey of life, and there are things that are required for every stage in life. However, the stage must first be set in my heart, because my life's pursuits and priorities will then flow from the foundations laid in my heart. If I consider the things of this world as precious, it will then lead me to pursue them with all my heart. If I know that they are necessary, but not to the point where I have to cheat, steal or kill to get them, that will also drive my dedication and focus as I run my race. My heart is therefore the battleground, where the focus must first be set, and then the pursuit can be properly defined. If the heart does not first sort out the priorities, I will keep running, pursuing an image of success that has not been clearly defined, yet unable to stop because I have not defined the limit.

I cannot divorce my heart from the things it holds dear. Unless the foundations of the focus changes, there is not much good that can be done about the heart. The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and it is no use trying to get this version of heart to focus on eternity unless you first change its makeup. That is why God says He has to give us a new heart, on which He can write and impress His will and purpose uopn. The old one won't allow Him work on it. The old heart will lay up treasure in line with its nature, and the heart that God has worked on will also lay up treasure in line with its nature. No matter how I try and argue the point, my present pursuits and priorities are a window into my eternal reality. I must surrender my heart to God so He can align it with His eternal purpose. That is the heart that is relevant both here on earth as well as prepared for eternity. Is yours ready? God's time of favour is here.