08/18/2020
The rich, the famous, and the wealthy, do they tempt you with their lifestyles, and make you yearn to be as they are? The arrogant, the wicked, and the dominant, does their ability to succeed every day without consequence bring you envy? These are the champions that the world has to offer, and they look, for all the world to see, as if they are the pinnacles of success, and what we should strive towards, but they are not. When the book of their life is closed, and the scroll of their possessions is rolled up, they will be thrown in the fire, but the righteous shall be just beginning to walk in glory with God through Jesus Christ. Thus we ask; where is my heart, my treasure, and my home?
“For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
Psalm 73:3 ESV
The world we live in is filled to the brim with worldly pleasures and temptations that appear wonderful to those who have little in this place, and it is running over with sinful behavior that seems to go unpunished, but friends, the world is having its day while the righteous and God fearing go about gathering their treasure in heavenly places, and inheriting eternity.
“But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!”
Psalm 73:16-19 ESV
All of those who champion the earth while mocking the righteous, and belittling those of faith, have no vantage place from which they can see the long and grand road that lies ahead. They count diamonds to be more valuable than truth, and gold more desirable than good. They confuse physical lust with love, and power over people to be greater than God’s power that is found among the meek. These two, the physical and the spiritual, are set far apart from one another, so Christian... do not confuse which of these to be the place you should call your true home, nor confuse what is desirable in the world for what is righteous before God.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life —is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
1 John 2:15-17 ESV
Aesop wrote one of his famous fables that many think speaks quite literally to gathering earthly goods for the long term, and applies to avoiding physical starvation when times get hard, but his story can actually go much deeper than presenting a simple moral, or treatise on laziness. This fable is titled “The Ant and the Grasshopper”, and in this story the ants who work all summer long gathering food, while the grasshopper lives for the day, mocking them as he goes about living for the present ... that is until winter comes and he finds himself cold and dying of starvation while the ants are warm in their nest and well fed.
To the Greeks who lived in Aesop’s day (630-540 BC) this was viewed outside of our Christian context, but we can apply it as Christians to preparing ourselves for spiritual eternity, as opposed to those in the world who live physically in the world for today, and find themselves lacking in the final judgement... destined as the grasshopper was to die.
““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
So we return to our original question “Where is my heart, my treasure, and my home?” Are these all leading us to covet the riches of the sinful world, or do they turn us in our faith and humility towards spiritual desires, as we store up our treasure in heavenly storehouses, and long for our homes that are in heaven? To answer this question we need only find our treasure, then we will find our heart because it has proceeded our treasure, and determined where we have made our home. Let’s each look around ourselves today, and answer by the evidence of our lives.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for setting my heart on you, and your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for pointing me in my faith towards that which is righteous, and good as I gather my treasure into heavenly storehouses, and turn my back on what the world values as treasure. See those merciful things I do in secret Father, and count them as my treasure in heaven. Hear my prayers that are meant for your ears alone, and reward me for them with your love. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who sees the meek, the humbled, and the downtrodden, and calls them your own. Great are you who makes a way for those who are in possession of unrighteous wealth to find you, and to return to the world that which belongs to it. Praised be your name for dealing with each of us individually, and leading us by your will, and plan, quietly to you. All glory is yours Father, and our salvation, though quiet to the world, is celebrated loudly in heaven with great praise and singing as you are given the glory for our deliverance. Hear our prayers, see our works, and judge us as pure by the cleansing blood of Jesus. Open your arms to us Father, and welcome us to our eternal home with you. On that day when Jesus returns to claim us, the world will be judged unworthy, and your children will be given peace, and rest in their heavenly homes... forevermore.
Rich Forbes