"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 neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 NASB)
This seems to be one of those texts that everyone understands but few apply. Without a doubt our actions here on earth have some bearing on our reward received in heaven, the scriptures seem clear on that. Now there is not a second class heaven and a first class heaven, and heaven is heavenly because of the manifest presence of God and not a reward received, nonetheless Jesus speaks of reward so it is appropriate that we would as well.
A heavenly mindset will govern your actions, moreover an examination of your actions will reveal your mindset. So often people will struggle to understand what God wants them to do, or what the will of God is for their life, well this text is a very good test. When you are considering an action, or considering the will of God, what is the result of the action you are considering taking? Is there any eternal value? If you examine your life and the majority of the decisions you make are based entirely on temporal needs without consideration of the eternal implications then the truth is that you are earthly minded by definition. Human desire for treasure on earth is a great robber of joy for this life, and a great thief of reward for the life to come. Do you not realize that human desire is never satisfied? That treasure on earth never brings lasting satisfaction? It really does not, and everyone knows this yet most people continue to blindly pursue earthly pleasure believing somehow that the next thing they acquire, or see, accomplish will bring them the pleasure they were looking for, and in the long run it is usually disappointment.
Where your treasure is, your heart will be there also. Do not be mystical about what your heart is. Your heart is the seat of governance in your life, in other words when the scripture is speaking of your heart, it is speaking of your will and your desires, the very part of you that drives and motivates your actions and being. Your heart is not just your emotion, and it is not in the scriptural sense a blood pumping organ. Your treasure will drive your actions. Some men work in order to procure treasures for themselves, in turn their work becomes nothing more than a selfish pursuit, and their work itself becomes sin. Some people will labor to earn respect on earth, or to get their family to appear a certain way... it is all vanity, it eventually all passes away.
How then ought we store up treasure in heaven? To store treasure in heaven is to take action on earth that does not have personal gain as the primary objective of that action. To store treasure in heaven is to devote your resources, time, energy, money, mental capacity, ethic, yea your entire body to the will of God. To allow the heavenly vision to govern your actions and not mere earthly pleasure! Of course this leaves us worried about ourselves, how will we survive, have pleasure, be taken care of, etc if we are constantly looking to heaven? Have you read the end of Chapter 6 of Matthew? We will get to that in a few days.
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