Jesus Perspective: Disciples and Money

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6:19-21

He thought he had it all, and so did a lot of other people. We call him the rich, young, ruler. He was wealthy and he was righteous (in his own eyes). He had treasure everywhere except where he needed it most! Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor, then he would have treasure where it would really do some good He went away sorrowfully, though. He considered having treasure here more important that having it in heaven.

We are in danger of making the same decision. Oh, we don’t make it face to face with Jesus in the way the rich, young, ruler did; nevertheless, the decision is still made, and the consequences are the same. There are rich people who, like that young ruler, are too interested in their wealth to be interested in the things of God They will walk away from opportunities for eternal life just like the young man did. There are also those who barely make it between paychecks who spend their lives just trying to pay that next credit card bill, or that next car note, or that next house payment They are so busy in fact, that while not rich, the buck has become their god. They have as much interest in possessions as the guy who already has the possessions.

The two messages from those Matthew 6 and 18 are: (1) God can tell where our hearts are by the treasures that we lay up for ourselves and (2) the only treasures that will last forever are the ones deposited in heaven.

Marcus Cicero called "Out of this Life” to illustrate these truths:

Out of this life I shall never take
Things of silver and gold I make.
All Om I cherish and hoard away
After I leave, on earth must stay.
Though I call it mine and I boast its worth,
I must give it up when I quit the earth.
All that I gather and all that I keep
I must leave behind when I fall asleep.
And I wonder often, just what I shall own,
In that other life when I pass alone,
What shall He find and what shall He see,
In the soul that answers the call for me?
Shall the great Judge learn when my task is through
That my soul had gathered some riches too?
Or shall at the last, it be mine to find,
That all I had worked for, I had left behind?

That’s Life at Work!