Friday, August 12, 2011

August 12, 2011 … Keeping the Treasure Safe

Passage of the Day: Matthew 6: 19 … Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

My Journal for Today: If you’ve been with me here, we’ve looked at this passage now from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount for several days in our look at stewardship of God-given resources. And in this passage, our Lord gives His followers (and that is us) God’s instruction on how to handle what we receive from Him – i.e., His providence.

In the times Jesus made this exhortation, worldly wealth was measured in commodities like those mentioned by Jesus: garments or fabrics, grain, and precious metals. Here Jesus warns that garments can be eaten by moths, … grain can be devoured by vermin, … and gold can be stolen by thieves. And of course, He is saying that nothing of this world is permanent/lasting. And even if one could protect their “stuff,” they would have to leave them behind at death.

That’s why our Lord goes on in the very next sentence (i.e., Matt. 6: 20) to tell us that the only absolutely permanent treasures we can lay up for ourselves are those things which will last in eternity; … and those, of course, are the souls and testimonies of the Saints.

Therefore, in his devotional entry from Strength for Today on this date, John MacArthur bluntly asks any believer, “What about you? Are you putting your treasures in a safe place?” And I would go on to ask myself (and you, by extension), “What am I [are we] doing to invest in eternity? How am I [are you] using what God has blessed me [us] with for His glory [i.e., … our time … our talents … our treasures]?”

Ouch! That hurts a bit! I’m growing into this; but my stewardship still needs attention. How about you?

My Prayer Today: Help me to be a good steward of Your bounty, Lord! Amen

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