Treasures in Heaven

It's been a rough couple of days, computer-wise. Yesterday at work our core switch went down and we had no network for 4 hours. That meant no work for four hours - cool, right? Wrong, that's a four hour slip on everything we were working on, plus extra time fixing stuff that needed help once the network came back online. This has severely hampered my writing time. I know - excuses, excuses. The good news is my trip to the dentist yielded no cavities! Woohoo! Twice in a row. But none of that is what I really want to write about.

I was reading Matthew 6 again on Wednesday starting with verse 19 (although, as I've written before, I think the chapter needs to be read as a whole) and it starts out clear enough: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." Ok, accumulating stuff is temporal and won't last - I get it. Then comes this: "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I understand collecting stuff and storing it away. I have a few things I like and a few things that I'd like to have, but storing up treasures in heaven is a bit abstract. How do I know if I'm doing it? What exactly am I storing up? I really want my heart to be heavenward, which I suppose is the crux - am I working to get stuff that's time-limited, or am I working for something that's eternal? It's a good question.

Jesus continues on by talking about the eyes being the light of the body. I think this must refer to what we focus our eyes on. Are we looking through the glass darkly or are we striving to see in full? Are my eyes focused on what I can attain in this world or the next? Hope and faith are very much wrapped up in this question, as Paul says "Hope in what is seen is no hope at all." But sometimes I think I am of little faith - I'm not sure my treasure room is very big in heaven, I think if I'm lucky I'll just have a sock drawer. Of course, I'm being a bit facetious. The point isn't to score the biggest loot pile, but it is to draw our hearts towards God.

Capping this particular subthought, Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." This I get. Who's my master? Is it money, stuff or things of this world or is it God? Who am I serving and who do I want to serve? We all are servants or slaves, none of us is master. To believe we are a master is a great deception. I'm going to say serving the King is how we store up treasure in heaven. What that treasure is isn't really relevant - it's an analogy, a parable and to concentrate on the reward is to miss the point, which seems to answer my own question.

The last nine verses of chapter six finish off the theme nicely. In the NIV they are subtitled "Do Not Worry." This brings it all home, I think. Don't worry about your clothes or your food or your house - God takes care of these things (asterisk) Chasing after them is to sacrifice the eternal for temporal seeking instant gratification instead of long term reward. Jesus puts it into perspective this way "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things [aforementioned clothes, food, housing] will be added unto you." This is a huge burden lifted off of us, if we can see it and believe it (which is a struggle, I'll admit.) Let God worry about these things, my job is to seek His kingdom. He'll provide the necessary resources.

I want to take the leap - I'm teetering on the edge. It's a long way down, though...