(…continued) I treasure the memory of those ‘coincidental’ meetings. And I look forward to many more meetings like that in heaven, when we will have a whole eternity to meet people from all over the world, and all across time. Just imagine the possible conversations: “Oh, you packed food for Feed My Starving Children? My children were starving, and their lives were saved by those meals… Oh, you gave presents each year to Operation Christmas Child? When I was little, I looked forward to those presents each year, and it was there, where the presents were given, that I first heard about Jesus… Oh, your church helped support the Christian school in the Cite Simone neighborhood of Port-au-Prince? I went to that school, and it was there that I grew in my faith… Oh, you supported Wycliffe Bible Translators? Our village received the New Testament in our own language from them… Oh, I recognize you! I am Kettelee, and your family supported me for twelve years through the World Vision Child Sponsorship program; and I became a teacher in a Christian college” … and so on. I look forward to seeing Gideon again, and telling him how inspired I was by his courage, and how I shared his story with others to inspire them. And I will tell Adamou how his visits inspired our whole congregation to do more for missions.
And I will look up St. Boniface, and tell him how grateful I am that he sacrificed his life to bring the Gospel to my barbarian ancestors in Germany in the 8th century. You see, unless you were born in Israel, somewhere along the line, a missionary had to visit your ancestors to tell them about Jesus, and somebody back home had to support their work. Someday, in heaven, we will have the time and the opportunity to make these connections.
I have those treasured memories, and I also have those treasured anticipations and expectations of making those kinds of connections in our eternal home. And this, I believe, is what Jesus was talking about when he said, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin 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.”
I’m not trying to sell you on anything. I’m not telling you how to spend or where to send your money. I am simply repeating some words from Jesus, and thinking through with you how, what Jesus said, can work out in your everyday life.
And even though I have never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul, I do believe, that in this way, you can take it with you. You can send these treasures on up ahead. Make room in your heart, says Jesus, for those kinds of treasures.
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I Timothy 6:7 — For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain, we can carry nothing out.
Matthew 6:19-21 — (Jesus said), “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin 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.”
John 15:11 – (Jesus said,) “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
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We give you thanks, O Lord, that you have caused the light of the Gospel to shine among us. We pray that Jesus, the Light of the World, may shine upon all people. We thank you for giving us the privilege to be a part of your great work; spreading the Gospel throughout the world, and storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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See also:
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“He who lays up treasures on earth will, if he lives long enough, inevitably spend his later years having to let go of those treasures, or at least the enjoyment of them. As he moves toward his end, to him, death is loss, and he will be in despair. But he who lays up treasures in heaven looks forward to eternity. He is moving daily toward his treasures. To him, death is gain. He who spends his life moving toward his treasures has reason to rejoice. Are you despairing or rejoicing?”
–Randy Alcorn in The Treasure Principle, p. 43 (paraphrased)
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Laying up treasures in heaven will draw the heart heavenward.
–George Muller (1805-1898)
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“You will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse… I have been blessed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in my life. I can’t take it with me, and neither can you. It’s not how much you have, but what you do with what you have.”
–Rev. Denzel Washington (not quite an ordained clergyman yet, but a ‘licensed minister’ on his way to ordination)
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