Heaven's Treasures Series

Jesus taught about good works and giving. “Be careful! When you do something good, don’t do it in front of others so that they will see you. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “When you give to those who are poor, don’t announce that you are giving. Don’t be like the hypocrites. When they are in the synagogues and on the streets, they blow trumpets before they give so that people will see them. They want everyone to praise them. The truth is, that’s all the reward they will get. So when you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know what you are doing. Your giving should be done in private. Your Father can see what is done in private, and he will reward you.

Matthew 6:19-21 instructs, Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is.

Don't put your faith in stashing a lot of cash under your mattress or in your savings account. He is also referring to filling your closets with excessive amounts of clothing and shoes. The same can be said of a dozen fishing rods and tackle boxes stuffed with unused or rusting fishing lures.

With any treasure stored up there is always the risk of thieves stealing it. Or a fire, tornado, hurricane or flood sweeping it all away. Or how about what hyperinflation can do to erase your hard earned savings?

Prior to WWII, Germany was a very prosperous country. There, in 1922, a loaf of bread cost only 160 deutsche mark. In September of 1923 that same loaf of bread cost 1.5 million marks. It got so bad—people literally used a wheelbarrow to go to the grocery store, if and when there were foodstuffs on the shelf's.

Back in 1922, a wealthy German could buy an ounce of gold for 30,000 deutsche marks. One year later, the same quantity of gold cost 269,439,000 marks. Seems the rich were affected by the hyperinflation. Not so much today, I think. Do you think our excessively rich congressional representatives, with their private jets and body guards paid for with our tax dollars care if gas at the pump goes to nine or ten dollars? No. Do the ultra-rich care if it costs the average northerner $1,500 to $2,500 to fill up their heating oil tank? No!

When Jesus spoke of Treasures in Heaven, He did not warn you not to store up treasures. He did not say that it was evil to store up treasures for He instructed us to deposit them in a repository safer than any found in this natural world.

And the Lord is not against us gathering up some savings, or closet a few dresses and suits, but does anyone really need thirty pairs of shoes? Instead we should store up our treasures in God's heaven realm, so that our faith and trust can be rooted in something other than worldly possessions. The heavenly depository to store treasures that Jesus spoke about is far more safer, secure, and more reliable than any of our earthly methods or safeguards.

Webster's Dictionary defines heaven, in part, as The dwelling place of the Deity; the abode of bliss; the place or state of the blessed after death. Unto the God of love, high heaven's King.

So you might ask, “ How do we store up treasures in heaven, which is a place beyond our reach? Give to the poor and do for the poor. Those answers are simple to say but some folks find the execution of the acts excruciatingly difficult to engage.

Luke chapter twelve records the words of Jesus Christ expounding on the concept of storing up treasures in heaven.

Luke 12:33 says, Sell the things you have and give that money to those who need it. This is the only way you can keep your riches from being lost. You will be storing treasure in heaven that lasts forever. Thieves can’t steal the treasures you have given to the poor, moths can’t destroy it, corrosion won't tarnish it, nor can the winds and floods of mother nature remove them.

These words of Jesus in Luke are similar to a portion of the message Christ gave at the sermon on the Mount. When Jesus repeats we should pay careful attention to His instructions.

His message is clear and straightforward, we should take some of what we have and place it in the hands of the less fortunate. Give to those in need or to good, reliable charities working in the mission fields of our Lord and savior.