Thankful Thursday - Treasures in Heaven

I am thankful for so many things in my life and I am very fortunate in so many ways.  If I have learned anything over the years, it is that things come and things go.  We have lived in big houses and small houses.  We have had plenty and we have had times of very lean means.  We have had times of great joy and courage - and times of sadness and fear.  We have been confident and we have been insecure.  We have been faithful and we have been weak.

I was reading in Luke 12 today and it got me thinking about treasure.  We are all pretty enamored with treasure.  Occasionally we see reports about sunken treasure being found and brought up from the depths.  People win the lottery and others become overnight successes at a dot.com business or maybe they win American Idol.  People have an old family heirloom that they discover is worth thousands.  A cheap painting is found to have a masterpiece underneath it.   Sometimes, people find out that they have a huge inheritance coming to them from a long, lost uncle.

While something like that might be really exciting, the Lord tells us to store up treasures in heaven.  That sounds good, but what exactly is He talking about?

Luke 12:15  says, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

You may be thinking - I don't have much at all. No danger here - but in reality, even the poorest of people in the United States are well off compared to the rest of the world, so I believe this warning applies to all of us.

Luke 12:22 says, "For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing."

So - what kind of treasure should I be storing up?  The last several days of my devotional have been about storing up trust.  Interesting . . . The premise is that each time we trust the Lord, even in small things, we are storing up treasures of trust.  When the big things come, we have stored up all these small experiences and have an ample "treasure of trust" to carry us through the hard times.

So - into my spiritual treasure chest - I will put:

TRUST

FAITH

GRACE

MERCY

RELATIONSHIPS

GOD'S WORD

MINISTRY EXPERIENCES

FAMILY

BLESSINGS

FORGIVENESS

DEPENDENCE ON THE LORD

OBEDIENCE

LOVE

GROWING EXPERIENCES

REFINING FIRES

I want to keep filling up my treasure chest with those things that are pleasing to the Lord and those things that will sustain me.  I have a lot of treasure to draw on when I am feeling low, weak, exhausted or just sad.  

These treasures will not have to be left behind because they are investments in eternity.  They are all part of shaping me into the follower of Jesus that I desire to be - and getting me ready for my face to face meeting with the One I love.

At the end of my days, I will have stored up a huge amount of heavenly treasures.  

This is treasure that multiplies as it is spent.  

Who but God could come up with a concept like that?

 How is your heavenly treasure chest doing?

What are you filling it up with?

Are your treasures in heaven or only on this earth?

Today - I am thankful for heavenly treasures that do not rust, can not be destroyed and never lose their value. Let's invest in eternity together.