But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
—Matthew 16:19-21
All of us can name what our earthly treasures are. For some of us, our treasures include a spouse or children. Others consider pets as special treasures. Still others make treasures of their careers, money or hobbies. There is nothing wrong with having and enjoying these things. That is often why God gives them to us. Yet today’s verse indicates there is a better place to store up treasures: Heaven.
What do heavenly treasures look like? Parts of today’s passage give us a clue. Heaven’s treasures cannot be stolen or destroyed. They won’t wear out with use, and we won’t get tired of them and eventually put them in a garage sale or send them to Goodwill. Heavenly treasures are permanent, and their value only increases with time. Therefore, we must look for them and cultivate them.
A heavenly treasure is generally not something you can hold, touch or experience with your senses. Rather, it’s often what you do in response to Christ’s living in you. For example, your praise and worship time with God is a heavenly treasure. You cultivate heavenly treasure when you visit a grandparent in a nursing home, care lovingly for children, spouses and pets, or stand up for those who can’t do so themselves.
Additionally, other earthly treasures can become heavenly ones if we are good stewards of them. Let’s say one of your hobbies is reading. If you continually read books that glorify sin and hatred, you are not glorifying God, and that would not be a heavenly treasure. If instead you read uplifting books and share the joy of reading with others, perhaps by offering reading tutoring, you have cultivated a treasure. Ask God to show you how to cultivate those treasures today.
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