Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.
Do the things we are seeking, those for which we invest energy and exert effort, have expiration dates? The more vicious of earthly pleasures tend to be the most short lived, requiring ever greater stimulation to in order to approach the highs they provided at first. But even the more virtuous forms of pleasure, such as are common in admirable friendships and families, can't last forever. We may delight in a game or a good conversation but we know that such things cannot last, that trying to draw them out too long in fact often ruins them. We may appreciate the beauty of a sunset, a painting, or a musical composition, but this too is transient. We may feel as though we are touching something central to reality when we attain to scientific knowledge or especially to wisdom. But even in these cases we are still typically focused on the sphere of temporal reality, on changing things, doomed to pass away.
We tend to horde earthly treasure as though it can provide a bulwark against future trouble. We don't use the things of earth as if they are passing away but rather cling to them as though they can protect us forever. This leads us to a constant seeking of more, a constant dissatisfaction with what we have, as though if we just somehow get and keep enough we will finally be happy. We become like the man who built ever larger silos to store his surplus gain only. It no longer provides a utilitarian value we can put toward more important things. Rather, the mental and physical cost of maintaining it becomes a problem in its own right.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
It is a blessing to store our treasure in heaven not only because in our future life it will be so unimaginably good to possess it, to possess God himself, but also because it is such a blessing to here and now let go of the white-knuckled grasp with which we hold things destined to pass away. When we use and hold temporary things knowing they are temporary in order to pursue things that are eternal we not only pursue the right path, but we also avoid much needless hardship and disappointment along the way.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
There is a real way that seeking heaven as our treasure makes the our earthly pilgrimage more heavenly. The more our hearts are set on God the more he will even now fill them with himself. By contrast, when we try to fill them with anything other than God we will always experience emptiness and gnawing hunger for more. God alone offers the bread that truly satisfies our hunger, the living water that alone can quench our thirst. Haven't we put up with the false promises of substitutes for long enough? Maybe we would think to answer that we have tried to seek treasure in heaven without finding it very satisfying, and we are simply making due with what we can in this mortal life of ours. But have we really? Or was that just a story we told ourselves?
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (see Jeremiah 29:13).
Damascus Worship Featuring Olivia Parker - You're The Well
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