Where Your Treasure Lies
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
Where is your heart? Jesus says that it can be found with what you value most. Is that your wardrobe, your home, your toys, your career, or your family? What about God? How valuable is He to you? I can tell you how to find where your treasure leys, check your calendar and your checkbook or credit card expenditures, and you’ll what you value most.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” Matthew 13:44
In describing the Kingdom of God, Jesus presents a number of points on how we evaluate wealth and prosperity. The man finds something more valuable than everything he has ever owned, result, his standard of wealth changed. All the treasures he once possessed and possessed him didn’t seem all that important anymore. He didn’t hesitate to sell off all he had, because it didn’t compare to what he found.
Take note, the man didn’t take the treasure. Why? It wasn’t his to take. Instead, he hide it again so no one else would find it. He cashes out of everything he owns, and buys the land. Why did he buy the land? Because it was valuable, and what made it valuable? The treasure. The land itself was not worth his attention, much less his investment, until he found treasure in it, then it was worth all he had.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
A man in Philadelphia went to a flea market and found a frame he liked. It had an faded torn print of an old country church in it, but the price was right. He paid $2 for it. After taking it home, he took off the back to remove the old print, and a neatly folded sheet of paper fell out. It turned out to be one of the original 100 copies of the Declaration of Independence printed July 4th, 1776. It was just an old piece paper, but what was written on made it valuable. Until what was on the inside was exposed, its value was $2.
Like you and me, we are just a clump of dust, what makes us valuable is what is written on the inside and by whom.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything
he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46
Here Jesus tells us about a man who went looking for pearls. Not just any treasure, but a specific treasure. He wasn’t in a field, he was in a market place where pearls were sold. In this case Jesus deals with the treasure itself. The kingdom of heaven isn’t something one stumbles upon, but something worthy to search for.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7
The merchant sought what he new was valuable by going where he knew he would find it. We are to seek true value in the only one in whom it exists.
The Estate of Jackolain Kennedy-Onassis was auctioned off, netting for her hairs many times more then what the estate was actually worth. A small measuring tape estimated to be valued at $75, only because it had Jackie’s initials on it, sold for $49,000. A set of golf clubs that belonged to John Kennedy, estimated to be worth $700, sold for over a million. None of those things had any unique value in themselves, they derived their value by who owned them.
I recently watched an old, well used, dark green 1968 Mustang owned by someone no one really knew get auctioned off for 2.5 million. It wasn’t in the best shape, it had some paint chips, and it was fading in spots. Even the interior wasn’t in the best condition. What made it valuable wasn’t the owner or it’s condition, it was who drove it. Steve McQueen drove it in the movie bullet.
So let me ask you, who owns you and who is behind the wheel of your life? You don’t have to be in the best shape, have a clean maintenance record, you have to have the right owner and driver to be valuable.
The importance of the kingdom is in equal proportion to the importance of the king. When the king is found to have value then all he possess has value. Our King isn’t some minor Monarch, Prince or President. He’s almighty God! You are in the King’s kingdom, you are a citizen of the kingdom who residence and citizenship was purchased by the blood of our King.
Until next time,
Ben
