Treasure

Day 19

Treasure

 

I have to confess. I love charity shopping. The thrill of the hunt, the thrill of discovering buried treasure. I love searching through the eclectically laden shelves of charity shops looking for that one bargain, that one thing that is useful or pretty or special in some way.

One day recently though, as I was standing in the middle of a charity shop with my daughter, looking through tea cups and dinnerware, I came to the realisation that a lot of the things that end up in charity shops were once  part of some one else’s story, part of their lives. And much of what ends up there comes from deceased estates, where that which was once treasure for one person, was thought of as disposable ‘junk’ by the generation that followed.

We can’t take it with us. Any of it.

I have quoted this Matthew 6:19-21 scripture to myself in my heart many times in my life in Jamaica, particularly the part… ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy’  though in my reality there it was very often replaced ‘where small children break, where lizards poop on, where friends accidentally destroy, where cockroaches nest in!’- you get the picture. Life every now and then gives us a hearty reminder of the temporary nature of ‘stuff’.

Amy Carmichael said “Nothing is important but that which is eternal”.

I don’t think we humans naturally live this way. We get so distracted by the temporary that we so often miss the eternal. We so often use our  ‘stuff’ to prop up our identities, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the items we bowerbird fill our houses with. And then we pay insurance companies big money to insure our ‘stuff’ in case it gets broken or damaged.

In the first garden long ago Adam and Eve lived in perfect relationship with each other and with God. God was their treasure.

But they were enticed by the whispering lie of darkness to reach for  tangible and temporary things, to reach past God and replace Him with ‘stuff’-  tasty stuff they hungered for, nice looking stuff they wanted to possess and ego-puffing stuff promising to enhance their intellect.

^‘When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.’ Genesis 3:6a

And this ‘stuff’ they prioritised and treasured above their relationship with God, broke them. And it has been breaking all of us every since.

This world is caught in the whispering lie of darkness- the trap of using that which is eternal -(human beings) to serve that which is temporary (all the things we strive to own, build, and possess). This is a world where people made in the image of God are objectified and used, and where temporary material possessions are treasured and prized.

There are only three truly eternal things we human beings spend any time around as we spin through our days on this pale blue ball in space: The eternal Word of God. Other human beings made in His image. And God Himself. 

Everything else will pass away.

So the challenging question that Jesus’ words on this Galilean hillside drop into our consciousness is this: How much do we truly treasure these eternal things- the things Heaven treasures?

How much do we treasure God’s word? How much do we treasure the human beings He has placed around us (family, friends, acquaintances and strangers)? How much do we treasure our relationship with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

One measure we can use to reflect on ‘where our treasure is’ is to reflect on the priority we place on something in our lives- practically speaking how much time,  resource and energy we invest in it?

Its worth asking ourselves if there are moments where we have allowed our storing up of ‘treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal’ to distract us or stop us from investing in storing up for ourselves ‘treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.’

Are there seasons where we have neglected time with God, soaking in His word, following His calling in our lives, and investing in the relationships He has placed us in, because we have prioritised other more temporal things (like Netflix, shopping or social media)?

Jesus’ piercing statement ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ is worth sitting with and wrestling deeply, courageously and practically with. 

We are all stewards passing through, and every material thing we have will one day no longer be ours and no longer even exist. All the things we strive to own, build, and possess will be gone.

My Father passed away the year before last of cancer. My father in law passed away just last year. Death can be very clarifying, not simply for the person walking this final journey, but also for those of us walking alongside them. I remember reflecting to myself during one of my visits with my parents that my father was ‘dying well’- which is strange thing to say out loud really. A strange idea. What I mean though, is that he was living his life in line with Amy Carmichael’s words- ‘nothing is important but that which is eternal’. Despite all he was going through, he knew where his treasure was and what was important. Right up until his death bed he was talking to people about Jesus and spending time daily with God in His word. When things got tough (and they did) he talked to Jesus about it. And whenever I asked him how he was, he would smile through the pain and simply say ‘I’m thankful’. To me, that looks like dying well (though its a strange thing to say out loud).

The scripture that meant a lot to my dad in his last days (and that which we had at his funeral) was…

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

Earthly things will pass away. Eternal things last forever.

Nothing is truly important but that which is eternal. 

It is a healthy spiritual practice for us human beings to regularly and courageously sit with the questions: Where is my treasure? Where is my heart?

And ask ourselves, can we sing wholeheartedly with the psalmist…

‘Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.’ 

Psalm 73:25-26

 

For where our treasure is, that is where our heart will be also.

 

 

Journaling the Journey

Which sentence in this passage most speaks to you?

What does it say to you?

What challenge does it bring?

What would living in the light of this look like?

 

Todays Hillside photograph is taken from Abberly Ridge, Worcestershire, UK