Treasures
Read Matthew 6:19-34.
Last summer, as we were unpacking, it quickly became evident that there was not enough storage space in our house or in the garage. We had gotten rid of many things before we moved, but apparently we still had too many things for the house we had purchased. So we did what every normal person does...
We went to Lowe's and bought a storage shed.
It's one that we had to assemble. It's basically a big Rubbermaid container (literally) with doors, and it came in a thousand pieces. So over a period of a few days (and only one trip to the ER), we put this thing together. Today, less than a year later, it's full of...stuff.
Treasures.
Things I can't bear to part with.
My dad, the last time he visited, asked why I didn't just get rid of some of that stuff. "Because I need it," I weakly said, not quite believing it myself. And so there it sits. Books. Computer boxes. Stuff from when the kids were little. Shelving (that we will probably never use again). And some gardening stuff. I need those things, see?
Then I hear Jesus, in today's reading from Matthew, chastise us (me) for "storing up treasures on earth." For stockpiling things. For hoarding things. For keeping things that have no value any longer. He tells me not to store up things that can be stolen (I have a padlock on my Rubbermaid shed just to keep people out...).
And these things aren't even really treasures. They are only valuable to me. In the world's grand scheme, they aren't worth much at all. Yet I hold onto them. I've held onto them for many years.
Jesus isn't all that concerned about what I have in my shed, but he is concerned about the way my heart holds onto things that are wasting away. Do those things have more of a hold on me than the things of eternity? That's Jesus' concern here. What do I treasure the most? It shouldn't be anything that can be kept in a Rubbermaid shed.
Last summer, as we were unpacking, it quickly became evident that there was not enough storage space in our house or in the garage. We had gotten rid of many things before we moved, but apparently we still had too many things for the house we had purchased. So we did what every normal person does...
We went to Lowe's and bought a storage shed.
It's one that we had to assemble. It's basically a big Rubbermaid container (literally) with doors, and it came in a thousand pieces. So over a period of a few days (and only one trip to the ER), we put this thing together. Today, less than a year later, it's full of...stuff.
Treasures.
Things I can't bear to part with.
My dad, the last time he visited, asked why I didn't just get rid of some of that stuff. "Because I need it," I weakly said, not quite believing it myself. And so there it sits. Books. Computer boxes. Stuff from when the kids were little. Shelving (that we will probably never use again). And some gardening stuff. I need those things, see?
Then I hear Jesus, in today's reading from Matthew, chastise us (me) for "storing up treasures on earth." For stockpiling things. For hoarding things. For keeping things that have no value any longer. He tells me not to store up things that can be stolen (I have a padlock on my Rubbermaid shed just to keep people out...).
And these things aren't even really treasures. They are only valuable to me. In the world's grand scheme, they aren't worth much at all. Yet I hold onto them. I've held onto them for many years.
Jesus isn't all that concerned about what I have in my shed, but he is concerned about the way my heart holds onto things that are wasting away. Do those things have more of a hold on me than the things of eternity? That's Jesus' concern here. What do I treasure the most? It shouldn't be anything that can be kept in a Rubbermaid shed.
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