LOVE—PRAY—FAST—SERVE—STORE UP TREASURES IN HEAVEN
- Do you ever become homesick?
- Do you ever wish to just be home?
There are seasons of life when we just desire to go home—to be home with God. No, we do not wish for death, but we wish to be present with the Lord.
PAUSE RIGHT THERE.
PONDER WHAT ETERNITY WILL BE LIKE.
THINK—WE WILL REMAIN, WE, WHO HAVE BEEN SAVED, WILL SEE GOD—FOREVERMORE!
The apostle Paul wrote to the Believers living in the city Philippi, reminding them while they lived, what they should be about, reminding them how to live their lives—before they died and before they went home to heaven.
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect,
(The Letter of Paul to the Philippians 3: 12-14 NASB)
but I press on so that I may lay hold of that
for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;
but one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and
reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Summertime is coming, and as it does, we enjoy the arrival of the honeybees. During the winter season, we do not see them for they are cocooned inside their hive, but as springtime bursts forth, the honeybee emerges, for one solitary reason: to work, storing up food they know they will need for next winter when they are safely cocooned inside their hive.
Unlike the honeybee, when Christians are called home to heaven, we will not return, nor will we desire to return to earth. Thus, during this brevity of time (before we go), we are to learn from the honeybee and do as they do.
WE ARE TO STORE UP OUR TREASURES IN HEAVEN!
JESUS HIMSELF tells us how.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
(The Gospel According to Matthew 6: 19-21 NASB)
where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in or steal;
for where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.”
This week, we have revisited our preparations for our death. We attended an appointment with our lawyer, looking over our pre-drafted documents, making changes, talking about the future, and getting everything in order. In doing so, we asked our lawyer to draft a trust, something that will better-secure our worldly assets for our daughter and her family.
- We will be gone (home to heaven), but she will remain, along with her husband and children.
- We are hoping there will be many (children). & like our daughter and son-in-law,
- We hope they will become Believers in Jesus & Followers of Christ.
The TRUST we find in JESUS CHRIST—How does it compare to the HONEYBEE.
Yesterday’s sin looms over us, and we struggle to accept God’s forgiveness. It is so hard to let go of the many ways we fail in our walk with God. The apostle Paul reminds us that we are to live in VICTORY, not basing our ‘today walk’ based on yesterday but pressing into our ‘today walk.’ This is right. We are to unshackle ourselves from the sins we committed yesterday, but this can only be, if we have sought God’s forgiveness for those past sins.
- As we do, then we become unshackled to sins and looking forward toward HIM.
- As we do, then we let go of yesterday and strain for today.
- As we do, then we walk away from this world and live for our eternity.
This is where we who believe have placed our TRUST.
- Consider the diligence of the HONEYBEES that allows them to store up about a third more honey than they will need to survive the winter.
- Consider how this means that the normal twenty-five pounds of sweet honey the HONEYBEES produce is STORED, and still, they work to STORE up enough honey to sustain the bee colony through the winter.
- Consider how the harsh realities of the winter’s cold cannot overshadow the beauty found within the STORED honey.
This is where we, the followers of Christ Jesus, must focus—STORING UP OUR TREASURES IN HEAVEN.
Maybe you are reading and wonder: Just how can we do this (store up our treasures in heaven)?
- We can love our enemies.
- We can love those who persecute us.
- We can pray for those situations and for those who need prayer.
- We can pray unselfishly.
- We can fast and focus our minds upon GOD.
- We can fast from those earthly-items that steal away our JOY.
- We can serve the brethren.
- We can serve the lost, the ones who have not given their hearts to JESUS.
Truly, this earth is not our home but a temporary holding place, a tent, as we await & as we long for the day JESUS will bring us home to heaven.
Therefore,
- We act, but not like others.
- We live, but like the children of God.
- We respond, but not like this world.
- We react, but like peculiar people.
A believer’s focus is 100% on Christ Jesus and His return.
A believer’s prayer is 100% for Jesus Christ’s second coming.
And so, while we wait, we do as JESUS tells us to do—
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
(The Gospel According to Matthew 6: 20-21 NASB)
where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in or steal;
for where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.”
There is a melody I heard for the first time today, a song that I will listen to numerous times because it is so beautiful. Listen with me as the Christian band Unspoken sings: “Light That Never Fades.”