Storing Up

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 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

It is interesting how our scholars of old dealt with this statement of Jesus. If we take their approach then what Jesus said has no meaning for us today. There is the thought that the treasures Jesus spoke of were clothes, such as the coat Jacob made for his beloved son Joseph. The idea was in those days’ garments were very special because they showed the position of the wealth of a man. Those the thought that the moth could destroy their abundance of garments. However, rust does not consume gold or silver. The other thought which we thought was interesting was that it was more than appropriate to store up wealth because it did not belong to them but to their children. That is it was the designed inheritance for a man’s children so he had no right to give it to the poor. Another way they saw this was that was the only way to be able to continue to do good was to store up your wealth and keep the principle, spending only the interest on the poor. If one withdrew all one's wealth then he would not be able to continue to do good for all his wealth would be given to the poor. All that sounds good, but is that what Jesus taught? It seems right to make provisions for loved ones should we advance to heaven before them and leave them no form of sustenance. However, on the other hand, it seems right that Jesus meant we were not to store up wealth for our own personal use to sit back and take life easy. This would mesh well with the story of the rich farmer who built bigger barns to store his abundance of crops so that he could sit back and relax. The main thrust here is the idea that where our treasure is, there also in our heart. The question is if we can store up wealth without our heart being concerned about that wealth. That is are we consumed with how much we can increase our wealth and that this is the focus of our lives. Is it possible to live a life focused on Jesus, focused on the work of God, doing that which we have been called to do for God, for His kingdom, and still store up wealth for ourselves? Another interesting thought is regarding our tithe. Usually, we consider giving a tenth of our income as the tithe. However, if we tithe the whole while we work and store up wealth for our golden years of life, retire and sit back doing whatever pleases our fancy, then we no longer have an income to tithe. Does that mean when we retire, we can stop tithing, or giving? How do we deal with the concept that God told Adam, the first man, he had to work by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life? Are we men, has anything changed? Are we exempt from that directive of God? Does it mean that because Jesus freed us from the bondage of sin, the inheritance Adam gave us, this original sin, that we no longer need to work by the sweat of our brow all the days of our life? Does that mean because we are in Christ, we can accumulate enough wealth for ourselves so we can retire and take life easy? That still seems that we are putting more value on wealth than we should, or that is where our heart is. How do we justify this storing up wealth for ourselves? Can we justify it?