Lasting Treasure

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 138, Lasting Treasure.

Hear what Jesus says in Matthew 6, verses 20 and 21:

"Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Let that land.

Jesus does not say, "Do not treasure." That's what we might expect — a warning against wanting things, a rebuke of ambition. But that's not what He says. What He does is something far more precise. He points to two vaults and says: choose. Every single life is storing something, somewhere. The question isn't whether you're laying up treasure — it's where.

And then He's honest about it. Refreshingly, almost uncomfortably honest. He says everything down here expires. Moth. Rust. Thieves. Three words that cover the whole range — the slow decay from within, the wear that comes from without, and the world that takes without asking. Nothing here keeps. Not the savings account, not the reputation you spent years building, not the achievement that felt so permanent when you first held it. Down here, everything has an expiration date.

But heaven — heaven is a different climate altogether. Treasure stored there does not rot. It does not corrode. It cannot be stolen. What is kept with God is kept completely, beyond the reach of every force that undoes things down here.

So how does the deposit get made? How does treasure actually move from here to there? Jesus has been teaching it all through this sermon: treasure rises when it is released. Generosity is the transfer. What you hold tightly, you will lose. What you give — the meal you brought, the bill you helped pay, the time you poured out when you had little left — that goes to heaven. It is the only wealth you will keep forever.

And then Jesus says something that turns ordinary logic upside down. We assume the heart leads and the money follows — that you give to what you already love. Jesus says it works the other way. Your treasure goes first, and your heart goes after it. Put your resources where you want your love to grow. Want to love God more deeply? Invest in what God loves. Want to care more for people? Put something real into people. The heart always follows the treasure.

And what makes all of this so freeing is that this wealth is untouchable. No market collapse. No thief. No slow and quiet decay. Nothing reaches what is stored with God. It is the only holding in existence that carries no risk at all. None.

Today — before breakfast — do this one thing: choose one expense you can skip. That coffee you'd grab on the way, that purchase you've been considering, that subscription running quietly in the background. Take that amount and send it to a person in need or a ministry you trust. Not out of guilt. Not because someone told you that you had to. But because you want your heart to be in the right place. Because you want to store where nothing spoils.

Make the deposit today.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.