I’ve been feeling suffocated by clutter in my house these days, so I have begun weeding out the stuff I won’t use, clothes I can’t wear, bits of whatever…things I may use for a craft or something, and anything else that’s just been sitting there for ages. Oh, and the boxes! I tell myself, “It’s a good box and I might need it.” Haha! I know you all know what I mean!
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
I was a caretaker for an elderly woman for five years until she passed away. While I worked for her, I tried to encourage her to give away the things she had set aside for family members so they could use them while they were still good. She wouldn’t because she thought she might need them. After she passed away, her son hired Ron and I to clean out her house. I remember a real fur coat that she was saving for her granddaughter. It was beautiful. However, when I picked it up, parts of it disintegrated in my hands so I had to throw it away.
I love what Jesus says in Luke 12:33-34 “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
I love donating things to others! It’s such a blessing to bless others, knowing that the exact thing they were looking for arrives and it’s free! I also love making things for people and praying for them while I work on it. I’m making a purse that doesn’t wear out by loving others. That purse is my heart and the treasure in my heart is Christ in me, the hope of glory! I’m participating with Him to love others.
I’m reading the autobiography of an Iranian Christian. The Ungrateful Refugee, What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri. Something she wrote in there really got me thinking hard about what has me. Christ or my stuff. She writes: Despite everything, I was excited to go: beyond our borders lay every kind of possibility. If I could just pull myself away from my things…
She was eight years old when she thought that and they were miraculously leaving Iran for a safer place. Do our things have us, or does Jesus?
Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:18-19 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
Life indeed. 1 Timothy 6:12 says that life indeed is eternal life. What is eternal Life?
Jesus said in John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”
Lord, help us to weed out anything that keeps our attention off of You. May we seek to know You evermore that we may love others with all of You in us. May You be the unfailing Treasure in the purses of our heart as we submit to You completely. May our lives bring You glory our precious Savior. Hallelujah and amen.
