Mathew 6:19-21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Most of us read this passage and move ahead because we do not understand and worse draw conclusions which leave us in bondage. We end up thinking oh my God I have been laying up treasure in the wrong place. What we fail to understand is that this passage is speaking of the finished work of Jesus and we living in the finished work of Jesus.
You might be wondering “How on earth is this passage speaking of the finished work of Jesus??????”
Well, lets see!!!!
You might be wondering “How on earth is this passage speaking of the finished work of Jesus??????”
Well, lets see!!!!
The primary purpose of this passage is not where we lay up the treasure instead it is Jesus' desire that we are in the right place, that our heart is in the right place.
Before we get to the purpose let us look at what this “lay up the treasure” means.
The word for “lay” in Greek is “thay-saw-red-zo” meaning to gather up.
Jesus says do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in. To understand this let us shift our focus for a moment to the scene: After man's fall in the Garden of Eden. Where God sends him out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground(the earth) from which he was taken. It is under the curse that we have to toil for our living, we have to work the ground.
When we work hard and save our eternal fear is that “What if I loose this saving? What if this is over?” We work more to add up more and the more insecure we become, what's worse, we end up loosing our family our friends. We live such workaholic life that at the end of it, we feel we don't have anything. After we die all that we earned will one day wither away and guess what even while we were gathering it all up we were never satisfied never happy never at peace. Instead, Jesus is asking us to lay up treasures in heaven, which is simply the opposite of laying up treasures on earth. He is saying “I have finished it all of you, you are back in the Garden where you were in-charge, where you ate from what I had planted”. When we do that , when we draw from Jesus our security is in Him and we are never anxious. We fear no calamity. Our families are enriched our friends benefit from us. What do we draw from Jesus??? Everything!!! Peace, Joy, happiness, financial security, love in our family, peace at work... Everything absolutely everything.
If this is our treasure then nobody can steal it from us and no moth can destroy it, even if it does we still stand secure in Jesus our Strong tower.
When we are so much soaked in the finished work of Jesus we notice that our heart's only focus has been Jesus and no one else and nothing else. Not money, not friends not family nothing other than Jesus.
What an amazing God we have “He invites us to draw from Him all things and He gives us peace that surpasses all understanding” Our friends will wonder how is it that we are so joyful when the whole world is going down in recession, how is it that we are so secure though people are getting fired!!! Our friends will wonder how we are able to thank God in such situations. Remember the Psalm “Many will see and fear and put their trust in God”
What has happened through it all is that “Our heart was in the right place”
God Bless
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