Where do you keep your treasures? Are they safe? When I was a boy my mom had a beautiful jewelry box from Thailand. Dad bought it for her and brought it back when he returned from his Air Force assignment in Udorn. It was made of beautiful black wood with ornate designs painted. When she opened the lid, it played a song, Theme from Dr. Zhivago, as I recall.
As many of you have, I went with my brothers last week to help mom sort through the valuable things. As she moves into assisted living, she doesn’t have room for all of her things. We thought together about what she treasured. Categories emerged, including things to take to the new place, things to store, things to give away, things to throw away. We shared many wonderful memories as we looked at pictures and wrapped up her treasures. You can accumulate a lot in 75 years.
Jesus reminds his disciples that we cannot keep our things on earth. Moths devour beautiful clothing. Thieves steal. The only safe place is not actually in this world but in heaven. One thing we know for sure, our treasures always tell the truth about our hearts. So in the end what will we keep? What do we treasure most? Today, let’s treasure Christ above all else. Keith Green used to sing, “Nothing lasts, except the grace of God by which I stand in Jesus.” My mother’s greatest treasure is her faith in Christ. She passed it on to me and my brothers and nobody will ever take it away. We are grateful.
