This post will look at what treasures in heaven really are.
Introduction
Jesus has a way of blowing our minds with a perspective that is far above any we could produce for ourselves. When He gave His famous “Sermon on the Mount” He completely revolutionized how people look at just about every major aspect of life—including possessions and wealth. Here is an excerpt from that amazing (and convicting) teaching:
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Matthew 6:19-34, NLT
As with pretty much all of Jesus’ teaching, He is concerned more about our heart than anything else. He wants us to approach life with the right attitude toward all that we think, say, and do. When He interacted with people, He took care of their physical needs, this is true most of the time, but when He taught us how to live, His focus was on our heart (our will, attitude, and focus). He was always probing and discussing what was most important to us.
Obviously, God cares about His human race. He produced us. He interacts with us. He cares what we think, say, and do. And He provided a way for us to be reinstated to Him as a race, among other things. This is important in understanding what our attitude should be (from a godly perspective) toward things of the Earth.
When you read the quote shown above, I hope that you are really taking it in. Let it soak into your soul and speak directly to you. Take a moment and pray about what you read when you are reading the Bible. This will help you be more receptive to what the Holy Spirit has to say to you.
In this quote, Jesus is touching on a topic that He regularly discussed. His apostles also made this topic an important one for us. I’m not going to try to cover all of what they said on this, that would be too much for this format. I’m going to use this teaching and expand upon it enough to help you see what your attitude should be toward the stuff we call: money; possessions; resources; wealth; comfort; contentment, and so on. I’m going to show you that these things are very much secondary to where our focus ought to be.
As touched on already, God has intentions for us. We call this His will for us. Since it is so very important to know what God’s will is for us, we should learn how to discern this for ourselves on a daily basis. That way, we can begin to walk in God’s will and enjoy life in a deeper, fuller way. Paul told us to do this:
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2, NLT
Since we all want what is good, pleasing, and perfect, we should heed this advice.
Earthly Worldview vs a Spiritual Worldview
Earthly, Physical Needs
We can’t deny that we have physical needs on planet earth. If we neglect to breathe, we die. If we don’t drink water, we soon die. If we don’t eat, we live only a few weeks. If we don’t protect our bodies from the elements (heat or cold), we could perish fairly quickly (seconds in some extreme situations). Not to mention watching out for dangers that can crush, cut, or contaminate us to some degree, including death.
As we go beyond basic survival, we learn that we can be very comfortable in our environment that we set up for ourselves. We like being warm and dry on cold, wet days. We like being cool and hydrated on hot, dry days. You get the picture. But the danger comes in caring a bit too much about such comforts. The danger is in building up such reserves that we begin to care more about having an abundance in stuff that makes us comfortable than we do about the things that God wants us to focus on. (And I’m not even getting into procreation and all of the baggage that comes with the games of attraction, love, and sex that motivate people in all kinds of ways. Nor am I going to talk about power over each other in this post.)
Clearly, God has no problem with us caring for our physical needs. That’s partly what Jesus did in His earthly ministry. He healed the sick and fed the hungry, among other things. Where we begin to run into trouble with this is when we begin to consume more than we should; when we begin to covet (strongly desire) that which we don’t have; when we begin to let fear, greed, pride, or gluttony take over our heart and mind.
If we pay attention to what the Bible says about these things, we can learn that earthly things are less important than heavenly things. And when we allow earthly things to become more important to us that heavenly things, we walk into a trap that will hinder our spiritual growth in Christ (at least) and bring us to complete spiritual ruin (in the end). That makes this discussion an important one; one that we need to pay attention to on a daily basis. Why daily? Because we are ALL constantly going off course in our minds and hearts. We are like that car that always pulls to one side. If we aren’t constantly correcting our trajectory, we’ll end up in a ditch, off a cliff, wrapped around a tree, or mingled with an oncoming vehicle in a mangled mess of metal. (I speak of everyone, when I say we are like a car that pulls to one side. No one is above such tendency to go off course. No one. Anyone who thinks they do not have a sin nature at the very core of their being is lying to himself/herself. Perfect people do not yet exist—except Jesus.)
Spiritual, Heavenly Needs
As humans, we are created in the image of God. I may not fully comprehend what this means in all ways, but I can say with some certainty that it means that we are more than just what we can see in the mirror. We have a soul; and spirit; an invisible part of us that is not subject to the physical limitations and needs of the flesh. There is something in us that rises above the need for food and shelter. It is the part of us that will continue to live on, even after the physical body perishes and returns to dust. This is partly what separates us (I believe) from the rest of life native to Earth.
At the top of our spiritual needs list is the need for love. Maybe you’ve been hurt to the point of searing your heart so that you don’t think you need love, but that would be wrong. Everyone has an innate, fundamental need for God’s agape love upon us.
Naturally, God can (and does) love us directly, but He also chooses to love us through each other. He just seems to find pleasure in us loving each other, and since all love comes from Him, He is in the midst of our godly love for each other.
Unfortunately for most people, receiving God’s love is only temporary if we have not accepted His solution to our inner corrupt nature (which we inherited from Adam). So another top need is to be saved from our own corruption. Maybe you’d rather have this need at the very top of the list. That’s fine. I see love as the utmost need and salvation the way to get it.
If this is the case—that our spiritual needs are more important than our physical needs—then we really need to pay more attention to the spiritual side of life than the physical. And I think that this is what God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit does. I also think that this is what Jesus was talking about in our opening quote.
We can care about physical needs, in fact we have to to some point, but the truly important things in life are eternal and spiritual. How long can people live on Earth, 100 years? Even if the normal lifespan was 1,000,000 years, it would be just a blink compared to the eternal life that awaits us when this universe is no more. That fact alone is enough to keep our focus during this life on the life that is to come. THAT is what Jesus means when He says, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
What Are the Treasures in Heaven?
It’s really very simple, but there are more than a couple of things that qualify as “treasure in heaven”.
1. Love. Being our most important need on Earth, it is also our most important need in the hereafter. Throughout all of our existence, this need will never be eclipsed; it will never go away. Salvation is a current need, but after we enter in to the glorified state, love will still be a need and salvation will not. Every time you show real love (godly love) to someone here in this life, the payback will be received in the next. Want treasure in heaven? Fill up your account with good old agape (godly) love for others. According to Paul, here’s how you do it:
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT
2. People. We tend to forget that we are very precious to our Creator. I think that God considers us His most precious possession. Perhaps He favors our love over that of the angels because we can choose to not love Him. Or maybe it’s because we can choose to love Him even though we have never even seen Him. The angels can also choose to not love Him but if they do, that’s it, no more chances. But remember that they were in His presence when they chose to not love Him. How many of us would automatically love Him if we could see Him in all of His glory? But when we turn our love toward Him before even seeing His face, man, that has to mean a lot to Him. And, for whatever reason, God has chosen to work through us in bringing people to knowledge of His plan of salvation for the human race. He uses us to lead them to the cross of Christ. He uses us to love each other as well. Of all of our responsibilities in this life (stewardship over the animals, over the world and the like) our greatest responsibility is the stewardship entrusted to us over each other. So when we work with God in bringing someone into the kingdom of God (as He leads and empowers), each person whom we influence to accept the cross for salvation becomes a great treasure in heaven—the greatest. And rather than taking all the credit for Himself (which He ought), He decides to credit us with the save. This is why the saints throw their crowns at the feet of Christ in heaven. He is the real Victor; not us.
3. Good Works. While good works cannot make us acceptable to God for salvation, they certainly can be added up in our heavenly account after we are saved by the cross of Christ. Think of all the things we can do in the name of Jesus (and His love). Giving, nurturing, caring, loving, praying for, sharing with, being kind and generous to, putting others first, helping, building up, encouraging, protecting, sheltering, feeding, clothing, befriending, forgiving… this list can just go on and on, ad infinitum. But we can boil it all down to loving others as much as we love ourselves. And also loving God above all things (whether in heaven or on Earth).
Bottom Line
This is why Jesus cares more about the state of our hearts than He does about our bodies. The physical is temporary—here for a brief time and then gone—but the spirit (soul) lasts forever. And if this is what matters most to Jesus, it should be what matters most to us as well.
He will give us every opportunity to store up for ourselves treasure in heaven. Whenever we suffer persecution in the name of Jesus, when we forsake our own comfort for the sake of others, when we forgive those who don’t deserve it, when we give our own life for the life of others, when we deny ourselves so that others can find unity with God, when we refuse to accept the Mark of the Beast, when we come out of the pattern of this world and embrace the will of God… yes, much opportunity will come your way. I encourage you to seize the opportunity that you are given to turn from the ways of this world, and embrace the ways of Christ. For when you do, you are storing up for yourself great treasure in heaven, which has eternal value and brings loving unity with God, His saints, and the holy angels.
Throw off this world, with its temporary corruption, its selfish ways, its pride and conceit, its fear and disbelief! Take up the challenge of a lifetime and live each moment you can for Jesus and His perfect will for your life. For THIS is the way to build up a great reward that will be given to you in the life that is to come. In Jesus’ name, and by His perfect power, which we access through His righteous blood sacrifice on our behalf.
Be blessed. Live for Christ.
Gary
