What Treasures are Stored in Your Heart?

~~~ 2 Kings 11: 1-4, 9-18, 20 ~~~ Psalm 132 ~~~ Matthew 6: 19-23 ~~~

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,

Just this part of the Gospel gives me plenty on which to reflect.

I know I am aprt of a group of individuals who store up too much stuff.

At one time or another everything I have decided to keep seemed to be a 'treasure'.

Granted it may not have been a true treasure just a perceived one at that time.

where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.

Years later as time passes on things that you thought were treasures no longer hold the same significance. Time changes us...our earthly treasures at least vary from year to year. Something I may have treasured in my younger days now  does not appear to be important. A couple years ago my sister's house was burgularized and watched how distraught she became over her things. Her computer alone stored many of her treasures. We take many of our treasure for granted until we no longer have them.

It is natural over time for things to decay. Old paper photographs can literally fall into many little pieces and eventually turn into dust. 

But store up treasures in heaven,

Here Jesus is saying...forget about all of those material earthly things you consider to be treasures. In reality these item are not your treasures nor should they be you treasures. Jesus purposefully included heaven in this verse. He knew that here on earth there is no place safe enough. So if I am to store treasures in heaven I must have a kind of hope chest. Treasures need to be stored in a protective safe. A fire proof place...a place bolted into the foundation.

 where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

 If our treasures are only material then we have no guarantee of keeping them completely safe. But if we look deep into our own heart there we can find the treasures that are most important. For if we only value and treasure earthly things; then our heart will forever be living in fear...the fear of losing these things.

Just last night I caught an interview with a woman who lost all of her earthly treasures in a house fire. She not only lost her things, but she also lost her three daughter and both of her parents. I have no idea how you go on after such a loss.

She spoke so beautifully about how her loved ones lived on in her heart.

For her, the treasures of her lost loved ones would always be preserved.

Stories such as this make me stop and take a mental inventory of what it is I truly treasure. What is in your heart is ultimately what you treasure.

What you store up in your heart for all eternity is safe from moths, decay, theives, and robbers. Nothing can remove a treasure from your heart you must freely let it go.

The treasures of the heart stored there day after day make you who you are.

These treasures make you a beloved daughter or son.

These treasures of the heart are fleshed out

in how you live all aspects of your life.



Today, I invite you to take inventory of what you have carefully stored in your heart.

Is there anything that you have stored which no longer contributes to your being a more loving person? If you do find something there that is no longer for your good; then sweep it away. You take control do not wait for the moths or thieves.

It is much better to do it for yourself.

Now is the time to become more aware of what treasures you are storing in your heart.

These treasures form you into who you are to be; they set the standard.



For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.