Storing Up

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

STORING UP

Matt 6:19-21

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

NIV

Clearly Jesus did not mean we should not invest for our future material needs in our old age. Certainly he was not speaking about investing in stocks and bond, or 401K’s or IRA accounts or annuities, or any other type of storing up for ourselves. But alas he was speaking about all of that. Surely they did not have that type of system during the time he spoke these words, but man has always wanted to stockpile wealth. We have the story of the foolish rich farmer and his bigger barns as a prime example of that.

Luke 12:16-21

16 And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18 "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." 

NIV

Jesus is going to expand on this idea which we will get to in the next several passages, but this is enough to chew on for the moment. The point is we simply are acting against the word of God when we store up wealth for ourselves in any form. It reveals our lack of trust in his provision. It is not that Jesus would have us be poor. It is not that Jesus is against us making a lot of money. It is that he does not permit us to store it up for ourselves. The key of this foolish rich farmer was that he only needed to build one new, bigger barn for his good crop. But he had to make a big show of his wealth and tear all the barns down and build all brand new barns. This was for his own good pleasure so to retire. But the other key is that it was alright that he was rich, but being foolish he stored it up for himself instead of being rich toward God. That is he could have said, “I already have plenty, and God has blessed me with more than enough, so I will give some of this extra to some people in need”. Nope, he kept it all for himself, stored it up just for him and his. Jesus does not even mention here about the fact that the system we now have developed is about investing in the markets, which are in fact businesses, like IBM, Apple, Walmart, Target, or whatever other companies trade open stocks. The fact is many companies support ideologies which are diametrically opposed to the scriptures. Jesus knew all this would happen, as he is God in the flesh and he has full knowledge of all human time, as he is always in the present. A mystery the human mind has difficultly grasping as we are linear. He is not, so he spoke these words knowing we would have the stock market and other forms of storing up for our retirement, which we know has no merit or support in the scriptures, so we never are to retire. (I remind any reader, this is my devotion, my thoughts for my life, I write in the third person so if you find any truths for yourselves, it is easier for you to insert yourself into the devotion, as opposed to simply viewing me) Nevertheless, this seems to be the point Jesus is making. We are not to store up wealth here on earth, but rather in heaven. The question is: can we store up wealth innocently, without setting our heart upon it, without the wealth being that important of an issue? Perhaps we might, as long as there are no widows and orphans anywhere to be found in our area. Can we store up money, without being concerned how it is growing or not? Why would we set our heart on that which is temporary instead on that which is eternal? Have we separated the two, thinking there is no connection between them? Certainly God intends for us to take care of our own first, then if we have any leftovers, we can see to the needs of others. But do we ever have any leftovers, and is that what God wants, our leftovers? Oh there is so much about this subject, it would take a book to discuss it all. Plainly put, no storing up, period.