What Do We Truly Possess?

I got a call recently from a pastor friend in Cuba. He lives in a large city, and if you know anything about Cuba, you know that life there at this time is a struggle. He had been travelling throughout the countryside to encourage other ministers of the gospel. Those whom he met were in even humbler circumstances than he, which is a lot to say. Nevertheless, he remarked to me about how impressed he was that they were about the business of evangelizing and making disciples with heartfelt and joyful vigor. To him, it was a wonderful experience and it touched him that these folks were not focusing on what they didn’t have materially, but on sharing what they had that was of eternal value: their relationship with God. It struck me deeply that all is relative. Here he was telling me that he was humbled by the devotion of these very poor souls he had encountered. It was the very same sentiment that I have had each time I visit him in Cuba.

Jesus said, “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

In our society, we tend to make ourselves feel good by the aquisition of things, pleasure, or the money that brings them. It is a futile attempt to possess that which we cannot take with us after we die. Let us “lay up treasures in heaven” and may our hearts be there as well.