Lay up for yourselves treasures!

What  image comes to mind when you hear or say the “treasure?”

Perhaps scenes from a Disney Pirate movie? A coin or baseball card collection? Maybe the word “treasure” makes us think of things we cherish like time with family or precious memories.

Will you be adding to your “treasure” collection today? If so, what will you add and where will you “store” it? We know our Saviour speaks to this subject as being a matter of the heart in Matthew chapter 6,verse 21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

 The things we love or cherish (treasure) are an indication of the affections of our hearts. In Colossians 3:2 we are admonished to “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

And if we take a look at verse 20 of Matthew chapter 6, we will notice Jesus instructing us to ” Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” We are to do something here that will benefit us. How you ever thought of this verse as being metaphorical, thinking something like, “Yes, it is certainly better to do something good unto others, as unto the Lord than for myself?”

A closer look at scripture would reveal that the Greek word for treasure here is “thesauros” which has the following definition(s):

1) the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up

a) a casket, coffer, or other receptacle, in which valuables are kept

b) a treasury

c) storehouse, repository, magazine

2) the things laid up in a treasury, collected treasures

So we see  physical treasure, valuables, being stored safely for us in heaven which is our home, our place of citizenship. So when we give to the Lord, we are not missing out on those dollars, they are actually being sent off to our “coffer, or storehouse” for us in our real home! Isn’t that encouraging? 

Consider the following: Every person who holds their treasure here on earth grows farther from his treasure with each day, as death brings the loss of his treasure; but for the person who stores their treasure in heaven, each day brings them closer to their treasure, as death brings them to their treasure in heaven.