Gathering Treasures in Heaven - The Crosswalk Devotional - June 12

Gathering Treasures in Heaven
By Lynette Kittle

“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life”—1 Timothy 6:18-19

How do we store up treasures in Heaven? Is it primarily through the financial gifts we give the Church and Christian organizations, or is there more to it? After all, in Matthew 19:21,

“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

However, perhaps giving money comes at too easy of a cost for many. What if giving money is an easy way out for those too busy or uninterested in investing their time and efforts in storing treasures in Heaven? And suppose it’s not where most of our heavenly treasures originate?

You Don’t Have to Have Money to Be Rich
Scripture tells us we don’t have to have money to be rich because there is another way true richness comes to us, and it’s in good deeds. It’s a richness that stores up treasures in Heaven, too. Sometimes we get caught up in the world’s money system but forget it’s artificial. Matthew 6:24 reminds us, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Too often, though, Christians seem to believe they can serve both, and it’s okay with God, like money and serving God are eternally intertwined. But God’s interest in money is what it means to us. If we love it, He sees we don’t love Him as we might think. Like the story of the widow’s mite, she loved God more than her money. Mark 12:43-44 explains,

“Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’”

Money Isn’t the Measure of Your Faith
Placing money and possessions above or even equal to God reveals a heart that loves the world more than Him. 1 John 2:15 urges,

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

Yet, nowadays, some in the Christian community seem to weigh a person’s faith by how they handle their money. Some in Christian circles mistakenly use it to measure their walk with Christ. Sadly, more attention is often given to what earthly treasures believers have attained than heavenly treasures. Sometimes other believers seem to think more highly of Christians who have surrounded themselves with worldly treasures than with the fruit of the Spirit, having trouble distinguishing between the temporal and the eternal.

You Can’t Take It with You
Matthew 6:19-20 urges, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Still, some Christians shy away from doing good works, knowing it won’t get them into heaven, but not realizing they lay a foundation of treasures in Heaven. Yet, good works are evidence of our faith, as James 2:18 explains:

“But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

Intersecting Faith & Life:
We don’t have to wait until the end-of-life, to understand how earthly treasures won’t last forever. Rather, we can purposely look to storing up heavenly treasures through our good works, generosity, and sharing what we have in the world with others.

Further Reading:
How to Prepare for Heaven

Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.