Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Moths, rust and thieves
Matthew 6:19,20
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on 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 and steal.
Jesus could not mean that we should be irresponsible and not have savings, not have insurance or a retirement plan, not have emergency money. He could not mean that we should not own houses and cars and other assets.
There have been times when people have taken these verses to the literal extreme and determined to live with nothing, to acquire nothing, to save nothing and to die and leave nothing.
But to die and leave nothing is to have failed to live according to the teachings of the scriptures. We are told in Proverbs 13:22 that, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”
(As a side note, this verse is so often misused by Christians in teaching and prayer. There is an assumption that the wealth of the guy down the street could be yours because he is wicked. There are people in prayer and naming and claiming the wealth of hard working people rather than praying for the salvation of those men’s souls. The context of this verse is when men fail to leave arrangements in place for inheritance that others get their wealth. It is wicked not to provide an inheritance for your children.)
This is a principle that we fail to teach our young men, that they ought to work and provide for their families while they live and after they are gone. I was never thought this in church over all the decades of my life spent there.
The Apostle Paul also made the point when writing to the church at Corinth. He wasn’t addressing this issue specifically, he was merely making an illustration or drawing a parallel, but we have the truth from him anyway that “the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.” 2 Corinthians 12:14
Jesus, in making the declaration, focused first on some obvious principles, that there are in this world, agents and processes that destroy material things.
The moth in Jesus’ reference could speak to a whole body of vermin that attack anything that we seek to store up for very long. Like the weevils in the flour or rice, like the silverfish and other ‘bookworms’ in the library, or like cockroaches in the damp heap in the garage.
Rust in His reference could speak to a whole range of processes of corrosion of decay involving the chemical activity of natural elements, the environment working together on material things. Every one of us who has owned something has seen this occur.
Jesus’ mention of thieves is obviously a reference to human activity, driven by covetousness, greed, or other emotional or psychological disorder that causes men to engage in evil acts on the property of others.
Once we are in this world we will remain subject to all of these three categories of attack on our things; biological agents and processes, chemical agents and processes, and human agents and process.
Some believe that if we go digital and cashless in our payment systems then our cash possessions would be safe. That’s a flawed view, the human agents are at work all the time to attack the digital systems and always will be. The human condition hasn’t changed because of technology, it has adapted to it.
So, if Jesus did not mean that we should shirk our responsibilities to provide for our dependents both while we are here and after we are gone, we have to focus on what his intent was in drawing our attention to the vulnerability of our assets to the various agents and processes that are after them. Jesus wanted us to focus again on what He later referred to as being ‘rich toward God’ in Luke 12:21.
Financial advisors usually tell people that in order to ensure that they can weather changing financial circumstance in the economy they need a mixed basket of investments. Everything should not be cash, you do need cash, but you also need some real estate, some insurance, and in more sophisticated economies, some cash equivalents, some stocks, some bonds, and the like.
What financial advisors hardly ever tell us is to add heavenly deposits to our portfolio of investments. And this is a mistake because that is the only part of our portfolio that can resist movements in the economy, and it the only part of our portfolio that is insulated from the biological, chemical, and human agents and processes at work against us. Heavenly deposits also have value into eternity after all others lose value. Heavenly deposits are also not in the estate or the will, we have them in the life hereafter.
When Jesus said “lay up” he was challenging us to give priority and pre-eminence towards being rich towards God in the use of our time, talent, and resources. To be sure to ensure that our priorities were God’s priorities. That we didn’t let the responsibilities for the accumulation of wealth here trump our accumulation of wealth with Him.
Jesus wanted us to understand that while we have responsibilities the proper balance was important because the assets here are always going to be vulnerable despite our best efforts. But our assets there are always going to be there for us.
Think on these things:
- Have you worked hard on your responsibilities to provide for your family now?
- Have you invested anything for your family to benefit from after you are gone?
- How do you balance your accumulation of assets on earth with those in heaven?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would find proper balance between efforts and investments.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
