Treasures

"Shoot!! Why didn't I see that crayon?"I was angry and frustrated because a crayon had melted in the dryer again. I wondered what was ruined this time and if I could "Shout" it out. My little boy, 5 years old, was always putting things in his pockets; little pieces of crayon, rocks, sticks , dead bugs, just about anything he thought was interesting. They were his little treasures to look at later and keep forever.

Twenty years have passed, and that 5 year old boy has grown up to be a very fine man, with a wife and baby on the way. Where did the time go? His twin sister lives in another state, 20 hours away by car. She had her treasures too you know. She had babies and stuffed animals tucked away in her "secret" places ~ precious to her ~ things that comforted her and let her drift to a wonderful fantasy land.

At the time I was too busy being a mom to enjoy their treasures. Sometimes I would let myself wonder what was going through Johnny's mind when he was placing that "precious something" in his pockets with his dirty little hands. I would chuckle thinking about the possible scenario that had brought him to the delight he had found. Other times I would sit down with my girlie-girl Katie and brush her dollies' hair or arrange the Barbie house with all the little extras of Barbie's immense wardrobe. When I did, those where memory treasures I would tuck inside my heart to enjoy later.

I store up treasures in my heart, places to travel to in my mind, that will bring me joy later on. They are like love letters read over and over again. I store up treasures today. For instance, like watching my grand-baby grow in my precious daughter-in-law's belly. The other day, Marcy had me and my sister feel her belly because the little one had hiccups. Joy ~ delight ~ treasures stored up in my heart ~ good stuff ~ great stuff ~ all mine for sharing or remembering on my own.

This life is a treasure even when we find the melted crayons that show up and make a mess of things. The question is, how will we react to their waxy greasy mess. Does "IT" become our focus or does the treasure that is found in the mess?

Jesus talks about treasures. He knows exactly what to do with them. And He defines the real ones. Jesus says this, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (Matthew 6:19-21 NLT)

So what does He mean by treasures? We can't physically place items in our treasure box in heaven. That means, anything physical isn't what matters. What about people? We can touch and see people, does that mean they can't be in the treasure box? The people I love matter don't they?

These are all good questions, so let's examine them. It's easy to understand why things can't be an eternal treasure. The cars we buy we will eventually loose their shine. The clothes we just had to have, wear out and go out of style. The money we make is never enough. The food we eat and the liquid we drink ends up in the toilet ~ literally! We know this, or should know this, but we still pursue them. Jesus agrees and points us toward things eternal ~ treasures that will last forever ~ treasures that touch our hearts and point us towards Him.

Next,let's examine the people who are important in our lives. Why aren't they eternal treasures? Well, of course they are eternal, (their spirit and soul), but their physical bodies aren't. Each person dies and their bodies turn to dust. And yet, our society places great importance on the appearance of the physical body. Every magazine cover shows us what we SHOULD look like. Young is in, old is out. So we grab onto what we look like to others and judge the importance of others by what they look like to us.

Jesus doesn't want any part of that. He wasn't even good-looking. "There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to Him." (Isaiah 53:2 MSG) But, we know people were drawn to Him. They were drawn to the eternal part of Jesus. The eternal part of them was drawn to Him. His love, His care, His Words drew people to Him. That's the treasure He's talking about.

The treasure we find in others, is the spiritual "insides" of people. It's the gifts God has given to them and we have enjoyed. It's the comfort we've received ~ the joy we've shared ~ the delight we've had ~ those things we can store up in our treasure box in heaven.

There are spiritual treasures we have when we hear a good sermon ~ read in the Bible ~ learn in Bible Studies ~ say in prayer ~ playing music that helps us a we clean the house ~ found in the presence of a godly person leaving this earth ~ the miracle of birth ~ the joy of love ~ the hope of tomorrow ~ the music that soothes the broken soul. The list of treasures is as infinite as it is eternal.

"He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God." (Psalm 40:3 MSG)

The eternal treasure we want to store up are the ones that lead us to praise our God. He helps us with this by providing the song we sing. It's ours to sing and the more we sing, the more people will be attracted to what we have. They will, as the scripture says, "enter the mystery and abandon themselves to God."

Seeing and experiencing someone enter the mystery of God's love and abandon themselves to Him, is a wonderfully exciting treasure that sparkles and gives you chills. Oooooo... put that in your treasure box!

I've heard it said, "You can"t take a U-Haul to Heaven." This is so true. We won't need to pack a bag or worry about what we'll be doing when we get to heaven, because we have a King to hug and a treasure box to open. So let's start now storing up the eternal treasures that Jesus told us to store up ~ cause our mansion awaits and we have songs to sing to our Eternal King who loves us as His treasure.

It's time to clean house, to sort through the mess we've saved. Let go of the past, the hurt, the people, the shame, the what-ifs and the never-was. We need to ask Jesus to clean our house and put things in order. We must ask Him to stay and make His home within our hearts, because if we don't, the junk and lies will make their home there instead. It's time ~ store up God's treasures and leave the mess behind.