Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Some people believe that these verses say that Christians should not have nice things. These verses do not truly indicate that. However, they do indicate that things of this earth should not be more important to us than things of heaven. It is okay for us to have desert toys, so long as our play time does not replace our time serving the Lord. We can have nice cars and nice houses, so long as we are not withholding our money from God. We can have jobs and play sports, but we need to be attending church services and going soul winning. Everything that we have has been given to us by God. Therefore we should have no reservation in giving back to Him. He gives us our time and our money, so we need to give Him our time and our money. These verses tell us not to lay up treasures on earth. Everything on this earth will eventually break, corrupt, and/or perish. All of our nice things will become less nice each day. Think of how excited we get each year for the commercial part of Christmas. We so look forward to those gifts that sit under the tree. How long does that fascination last? At the longest it lasts a year, because every year we have new things that we want. The treasures of heaven are not this way. These verses tell us that we need to be laying up treasure for ourselves in heaven. We can do this by spreading the gospel and winning souls to Christ. We can give money to the cause of Christ through faith promise missions giving and through offerings to support different ministries in the church. We can give our time to help accomplish projects that need done in the church. We can pray and read our Bible. We can attend every church service that is offered. These things and more can be done to lay up treasure in heaven. Remember this week, as you make plans for your activities, to put aside time for the things of God. Schedule time to spend in Gods word and in prayer. Make time to attend all four church services (Sunday School, Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night). Arrange your schedule so you can attend visitation on Thursday and/or Saturday. Plan a budget that allows you to financially support the work of God. Do not let our earthly possessions get in the way of what truly matters: laying up treasure in heaven through doing the work of God.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 18:39:52 +0000