Matthew 6:19-21,24 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Jesus is not against the rich, but as he quickly exposed in his encounter with the young ruler, riches are a dangerous threat in supplanting loyalty and commitment to Him. Money can so easily enslave us, and diminish our eternal perspective. Treasures on earth or treasures in heaven? What will we give our lives to? C.S.Lewis wrote that “anything which isn’t eternal is eternally out-of-date”.
Neil Hannon of the band Divine Comedy wrote the following lyrics in his song ‘Eye of the Needle’:
‘The cars in the churchyard are shiny and German
Distinctly at odds with the theme of the sermon
And during communion I study the people
Squeezing themselves through the eye of the needle.’
I was preaching in an affluent suburb in Chicago a few years ago. The congregation was all white apart from one African sat at the back. He came up to me afterwards and said: “Guillebaud! God used your grandparents to lead me to Christ!” Why do I tell you that? Because my Grandparents were gifted people who could have been very successful in worldly terms, but they laid their lives down in order to store up treasures in heaven. In monetary terms, when they died they left us grandchildren virtually nothing. They’d ‘spent’ everything on the Kingdom of God – all we got were a few tasteless hand-knitted jumpers! But as this chance encounter demonstrated, they’d left a living inheritance in thousands of lives scattered across the globe. That’s what I want as well!
Take an inventory of what you’re investing in – I suspect much of it is ‘eternally out-of-date’. Time for any changes?
Lord, I choose to serve one master, and that’s you! Help me choose to invest in what lasts today. Amen!
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