Up with People

Up with People

The Bible says to "store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:20). Which means what exactly?

We understand the part about not storing up "treasures on earth" (verse 19). We get it that we can't take our stuff with us into eternity. We never see a hearse pulling a moving van. We know that. But "treasures in heaven." What are those? And how do they become part of our life's purpose?

Every person you know or meet is an eternal being. Some, by God's grace and their faith in his son, Jesus Christ, will live with him forever. Some won't. But because each of us has an eternal soul, one way to store up "treasures in heaven" is by investing your life in other people—in your wife, your children, your work associates and employees, your neighbors, your friends, even people who cross your path in seemingly random fashion. We're not to regard them anymore "from a worldly point of view," the Bible says (2 Corinthians 5:16). We're to see them as a teller window for depositing our time, our attention, our concern, even just a kind "hello" made with deliberate eye contact.

Not every heavenly investment is transacted at church or in some other so-called spiritual setting. Just about anywhere you go, there's a branch near you.

Pray this prayer: God, help me to spend more time noticing the people around me and their needs—and less time focused on simply knocking out agenda items and daily objectives. I want my treasures in heaven, not here.