March 9

Treasure in Heaven

                “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

  

          The first time that I really studied this passage, I was on a short-term mission to inner city Tacoma.  We were staying in an apartment complex, volunteering during the day and meeting at a local church to study scripture at night.  After we finished our scripture study of storing treasures in heaven, we returned to the apartment complex to find that one of the units had been broken into and robbed.  I was really glad that we had not been studying the Plagues of Exodus.

            This world is temporary.  The things that we accumulate in this world are temporary.  These bodies that we currently reside in are temporary.  What lasts forever is the internal reflection of God the Father, what we call our soul, and our soul’s relationships with other souls.

            We mourn at funerals because when those relationships are severed, there is loss for today.  Even when I have been to Christian funerals that sang about the sweet by and by and celebrated a rich and vibrant life, there is a palpable sadness present.  We are not sad for the deceased; their suffering is over and they have come home to the warm, welcome embrace of their father.  We are sad for us because we have lost treasure and though we will get to be with them again someday…someday is not today.

            But on that day…glorious does not begin to describe it.  Imagine all the sadness that you have had from losing loved ones over the span of your life.  Friends, family, respected mentors, children who have made you laugh.  Add it all up, roll it into one big ball of grief.  Now imagine walking into eternity and that ball of grief being dwarfed by Joy as each and every one of the people that you have lost greets you with open arms and laughter.  There are miscarried siblings who we have never met that will welcome us home.  There are friends from childhood that passed too soon who will welcome us home.  There are mentors in the faith who were old and frail when we met them who will be vibrant welcoming us in.  There are children of our communities who died of complications and tragedies welcoming us in.  And we will reunite, knowing that there is no end this time.  There is no tragedy that will rip us apart, no tears left to be shed, no questions left to be pondered.

            And at the center of it all, Jesus will be there waiting.  The one who saw me through the dark nights and the lonely days.  The one who always saw more in me then I saw in myself.  The one who has loved me since my beginning and carried me all the way to my end.  I will stand before Him and He will smile and laugh and say, “Welcome home, son.”

            That’s our treasure.

A moment to reflect:

Who will you get to see again when you go to eternity?