Where to Store Your Treasures

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 treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:19-20

In mentioning the moths, the vermin, and the thieves, Jesus is showing us what happens when we lay up treasures on earth. What our Lord is saying is: If your treasures are on earth, I can tell you the whole story of them in three words — moth, vermin, and thieves. That is the whole thing. This is the trouble with treasures of earth, is it not? If our treasures exist in the realm of things, of persons, of pleasures, the one thing we can be absolutely certain of is that we are certain to lose them! There is no way we can preserve them for ourselves. The terms that our Lord uses here, moths, vermin, and thieves, are not only literally true of much of earthly treasure, but they are also symbolically true. That is, they stand for certain characteristics of earthly treasures that are always true. We know that earthly treasure — things, persons, places, positions, favor, etc. — never fully satisfy us. They never meet our need, there is always something missing. We get something we crave, and the moment we get it we find there is a sense of disappointment. And more than that, we lose interest in them. We get something, and before we have had it very long our joy in it has begun to dull, and after a while we have lost all interest in it.

Our Lord says that all of them ultimately perish. What the moths and the vermin do not get, the thieves will take away, and there is no protection against them. We think we have made them safe by putting them in a safe deposit, but that doesn't keep them from thieves. Illness strikes and our hoard is gone. A financial loss occurs, a market collapse takes it all away, inflation eats the value of it, war comes, and of course the greatest thief of all, death, takes everything.

We brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. This is the trouble with earthly treasures. They all, without exception, perish. But Jesus says, treasures in heaven are never lost. Jesus said, If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. (Matthew 10:42). The simplest thing, the least important act given in the name of Christ, never loses its reward. Peter speaks of an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1Peter 1:4). These are the treasures in heaven that are being laid up as we go through life right now. The only time we can lay them up is now. Those are truly safe deposits that can never be lessened in any degree.

Lord, you know that I am guilty in this matter. There have been times when I have indulged my earthly desires at the expense of treasures in heaven. Reverse my values, Father, bring me back to a balanced life.