The Sermons On the included Jesus’s most famous teachings.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21
In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says you cannot serve both God and money. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one or love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse.
Treasures in heaven are clearly treasures that last. We live in a passing world with passing fancies. Treasure in heaven are treasures that no one can take from you, your car, your bank account, your house.
I’m not saying you can’t have earthly possessions, God wants us to be happy. But, we need to focus more on our treasures in heaven than “stuff.”
The more things we have, the more things seem to have. We start to organize our lives around “stuff” and spend money to maintain them. It puts something other than God at the center of our lives.
Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” meaning that we will center our lives around what we value most. If we prioritize the wrong things, our lives will go off the rails. If we prioritize the right things, our lives will stay in the transformative footstep of our Redeemer,
How To Store Up Treasure In Heaven
Let’s look at some of Jesus’s teachings on the Sermon on the Mount.
Here’s a few, definitely not a comprehensive list.
- Being humble and pure in heart (Matthew 5:5-7)
- Hungering and thirsting for Righteousness (Matthew 5:6)
- Showing mercy (Matthew 5:7
- Making peace (Matthew 5:9)
- Being persecuted for the sake of righteousness (Matthew 5:10
- Being the ‘salt of the earth’ which is about in part, preserving the flavor of godliness in the world and our relationships. (Matthew 5:15)
- Being the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
- Following God’s commands (Mathew 5:19)
- Resisting anger (Matthew 5:22)
- Keeping your word (promises)
If you read From Matthew 6 on. They you can read them all. I suggest you read from the NKJV (new kingdom James version) it’s easier to understand. And the most original version. Or the NKJV Amplified.
The Eternal Pathways Of God
Think about your favorite things. What are they? A fancy house, the latest gadget, a impressive social media profile, or clothes or cars that make other people turn their heads.
Look at your prize. The sobering reality is that where your heartbeat goes, so do your things.
Over 1600 years ago a man named John Chrysostom wrote something that could have been written last week.
“We are only temporary guests on earth. We recognize that the houses in which we live serve only as hostels on the road to eternal life. We do not seek peace or security from the material walls around us or the roof above our heads. Rather, we want to surround ourselves with a wall of divine grace; and we look upward to heaven as our roof. And the furniture of our lives should be good works, performed in a spirit of love,
In the glittered obsessed and distracted eyes of the world, we may not be bigger or better, or even the best, but we can be blessed.
From Pity to Praise 