Treasures in Heaven
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Do Not Worry
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifeb?
28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
There's Sammy's 6 year old baseball picture button. The one this proud mom wore to all his machine-pitch little league games. Then, there is the mud-clay heart that my little Ruthie made me one day while playing quietly outside for hours. And how about the beautiful, faux fur black fuzzy vest my Mom gave me last Christmas? Or the pitching rubber my Dad bought and installed for Stephen? From that rubber, Stephen probably threw about 10,000 baseballs into my Dad's well worn catcher's mitt. What of the rick rack hanger that Hannah-Grace built and painted for me back when she was 8 years old? Or the clay bowl she designed and created in Art class? Or how about the cute little puppets the kids made in summer art school? What do I do with the boxes and boxes and boxes of photos of my family, pictures I still haven't put into scrapbooks like I've been saying I would do for the last 17 years? And how about our bicycles, scooters, the chicken coop Tim lovingly built for Ruthie's "ladies", guitars, the piano, sports paraphernalia, my wedding dress, the kids' baptismal gown, our million books, sports trophies, dishes, wedding presents we use once a year or less?
I keep approaching various closets and rooms in our home, thinking, "Today is the day I clear out all this worthless stuff! I don't want to pay to store it for "someday", and I sure can't bring it with me to Rwanda! So, out it goes.....except maybe I'll just keep this, and this, and oh yes, I have to keep this!"
Then I remember the Bible passage where Jesus warned me about not storing up for myself treasure on Earth. It never felt like some sort of mandate: "Don't store up stuff, or else!" More like a wiser, older brother trying to save me from myself ~ "Do yourself a favor and don't hold onto all that stuff. Take it from Me, it will just weigh you down." Motivational reading.
Only I never can actually get rid of it. Is this a lack of trust in my Savior? I guess that's what this reveals, as un-fun as it is to admit. I keep thinking, "Oh, his pitching rubber. That brings back so many great memories! I can just see him now throwing that ball as hard as he can." Or, "Oh, I can't get rid of the rick rack hanger, or the clay heart. They were made with so much love. I'll want these when I'm older." Treasure. These things are TREASURE! But if I don't listen to Jesus' warning, and quit storing all my vast, earthly treasure, I at least have to find somewhere to put it! It can't stay in this house, and it can't come with us to Rwanda.
So, by now, some highly organized soul is probably totally judging me. Just remember, there are warnings in scripture about that, too. :-)
It was so easy for me to think I had no problem with materialism until now, since only now has it become necessary for me to get rid of some of my material belongings! I feel a bit like Gollum -- "My precious! My precious!" I can't get rid of My Precious! Ha, at least he only had 1 Precious. I have a houseful of Precious.
Jesus, thanks for exposing how firm a hold some of this stuff has on my heart. Help me to more highly value the Treasure I have in Heaven, which can never grow old or break or rot or burn - and which I'll never have to pay to put in a climate controlled storage unit. Please help me to loosen my hold on all these physical representations of sweet memories.
A little more inspiration...
ReplyDeleteA pilgrim stopped by a hermit's cabin on his pilgrimage for a rest. The hermit had no furniture and instead sat and slept on the floor. Seeing this, the pilgrim asked, "Where is all of your furniture?" The hermit responded, "Where is all of yours?" The pilgrim replied, "I don't have any furniture - I'm just passing through!" The hermit quipped, "So am I."
Wishing you the best in your strides towards voluntary simplicity and I commend you for pursuing it! Materialism is a serious issue in the industrialized world, not just because it obscures the "one thing" from us, but because it keeps others from finding that one thing at all.