REFLECTIONS

Treasures in Heaven

As a child, the toybox rested on the floor in a small walk-in closet in my room. I played with those toys sometimes, but most days the toybox sat untouched. The attraction seemed to be the toys I didn’t have. Those in the toybox were castoffs that had lost their luster; but if I only had the new one I saw at the 5 & Dime life would be complete. Only it never was.

Years passed and other phases of life have come and gone, but in all of them, there have been toys of one kind or another finding their way onto my want list. If I only had a new car or set of golf clubs, life would be complete. And I doubt if I have found the end of the want list even now. I think Jim Carrey, the actor, had it right when he said, “I think everyone should become rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” Jesus taught that lesson in the parable of the rich fool who built new barns for himself to hold his excessively abundant crop. “Store up your treasures in heaven,” Jesus taught.

Treasures in heaven. What are they? Streets of gold? We may find them there, but is that the treasure? An enormous house with many rooms, and a special one for me? Now that would be something to look forward to in heaven; but I don’t think the treasure will be in luxury housing. The treasure will be the neighbors we find in the rooms there.

Mom and Dad may live next door. Grandparents might live just down the hall. Relatives, friends, and nameless people we helped find their way to heaven lock arms every day to worship our Lord. People are the treasure to store in heaven! Isn’t that what Jesus commissioned us to do? And it may not be as hard as it sounds either. Listen to some thoughts from Mother Teresa:

“There are no great things, only small things done with great love.”

“Peace begins with a smile.”

“The world is full of good people. If you can’t find one. Be one.”

My toybox has always been full, just not fulfilling. It was that way then, and is still today. The product of our work is important to the purpose we are meant to serve in this world, but how much of it do we need for ourselves? Storing worldly treasures blinds us to the treasures we should be storing in heaven. Those treasures are the lost people in our lives who travel with us for a time in this world. May you and I walk together, arm-in-arm, following Jesus Christ and holding their hands along the way. Then,

We might be storing treasures in heaven—treasures to us, and treasures to God.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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