Better treasures

Read Matthew 6:19-21

“Don’t pile up treasures on earth,where moth and rust can spoil them and thieves can break in and steal. But keep your treasure in Heaven where there is neither moth nor rust to spoil it and nobody can break in and steal. For wherever your treasure is,you may be certain that your heart will be there too!” (JBP)

God has given us many pleasures to enjoy whilst on earth. We are never to spurn them with some misguided focus on purely heavenly pleasures. But we need to recognise that all our earthly pleasures are mere foretastes of what is to come. So while we enjoy them for what they are,we realise they are pointers to something deeper and richer.

As Jesus reminds us,if we focus on the here and now and regard material pleasure and treasure as the primary reality,we will be playing a loser’s game. These material and earthly things are limited in their security and durability. Even our most precious relationships are subject to change and decay and ultimate ending. Also,we tend to lose sight of the eternity we will spend with God and instead become preoccupied with getting what we can here and now. We get things out of perspective.

We need to realise that nothing on earth provides ultimate and lasting satisfaction. We need to live with a degree of non-fulfilment. Spending our lives looking for the one thing on earth which will ultimately satisfy us is a futile endeavour. Nothing quite fills that bill. It is no bad thing to recognise that nothing in this world completely satisfies us. It causes us to recognise we were made for more than just this world.
We thank God for the treasures we have right now,and we thank God for the better treasures which these foreshadow.

Blessings
David Reay