DREAM International Creative Ministries

Laying up Treasures in heaven

April 8, 2009

The Sermon on the Mount delivered by Jesus as recorded in Matthew 5-7, is one of my favorite sections in the New Testament. The reason for this is, at the very end of the sermon, in Chapter 7, Jesus confidently says that those who listen to the words of his sermon and practice them in their daily lives, are like a man who built his house upon the Rock; and when the rains came down and the floods came up, the house was not washed away, but rather it stood through the storm. Now, I am not that old yet, and the short life that I have live in this world bares witness to the fact that this life brings along its trail storms. And sometimes these storms can be very serious that they may at times shake our very foundations and push us to the brink of utter destruction. So, in light to this reality, I don’t know about you, but I seek to have my house built on the Rock, so that no matter what I face, I am sure that I will make it through. That is why, I beseech you to pay attention to the words of the sermon on the mount so as to ensure that you’ve built your house upon a sure foundation.

I just one to share one important lesson that I learnt from a careful study of this sermon. In Matthew 6:19, Jesus talks about the importance of laying our treasures in heaven as opposed to this earth because there Moth and rust do not corrupt our treasures. He further says that our hearts are where our treasures are.

Have you ever asked yourself, what was Jesus really talking about? How can I lay my treasure in heaven? 

Up to the recent past, I, and I guess you too, have always thought that Jesus was talking about being faithful in returning my tithes and offerings to him. That if be faithful in my giving, I am actually laying my treasures in heaven. However, when you read the whole arguement of Jesus, you come to see what Jesus was really talking about. He opens the chapter with these words, “When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you wont get a reward from your Father in heaven.”He goes on to break down this point into specifics. He first talks about giving to the poor without blowing a loud horn about it so that every person gets to know about it. He also mentions about the need to pray in private as opposed to praying where everyone sees. Lastly, he brings concludes this chain of argument with fasting; saying that when we fast we should do this discreetly so that people may not know that we are fasting, but rather our heavenly Father. 

One common theme that runs through this section is the fact that as we excercise our various spiritual disciplines, like giving to the poor, prayer and fasting, we should do them so that “YOur Father sees what is done in private and he will reward you.” This is the line that is constantly repeated in this discourse which implies that this is the main message that Jesus wanted to point our attention to.

How easy it is for christians, even the mature ones, to try and do things so that other people will see and probably give us the “respect that we deserve.” This is a clear indication of where our treasure lies. If all we are concerned about is how to impress people our goodness and faithfulness, that means that our hearts are still in this world and that is why we seek the approval of men. But, on the other hand, if we seek to impress our heavenly father, to make him happy and seek only his attention, that means are hearts are in heaven because what we treasure, the approval of God, is in heaven. To such a heart, God gives a reward because it has sought to store up treasures in the very heart of God.

 

This truly makes sense to me. Jesus sought to impress upon our minds that it is both time wasting and tiring for us to labor in impressing our fellow men because their standard is too inconsistent. Impressing God is easy because he does not only see our actions, he sees our intentions.

Folks, this makes my life a lot easier, I don’t know about you!



Share and Enjoy:
  • del.icio.us
  • YahooMyWeb
  • StumbleUpon
Posted by dream at 8:26 am | permalink

All comments are moderated. Your comments will not appear here unless approved by the blog owner. Thank you.

Add a comment