The more I studied this passage, the harder it became to handle.
When Jesus tells us not to store up treasure for ourselves here on earth, he’s talking about money and anything else of material value. What makes this passage hard to handle is how we apply it…is Jesus saying we shouldn't have savings accounts, or retirement accounts, or college funds for our kids?
It’s tempting to write this passage off and say that Jesus lived in different financial times than we live in today. But we can’t escape the fundamental point Jesus is making: for the Christian, our hearts should be radically disconnected from our material possessions and wealth.
The first part of this passage can be broken into three parts: storing up - treasure - for yourself. Jesus is not necessarily condemning having material things. In fact, there are plenty of examples of Godly people in Scripture who had great material wealth. Jesus says that we should not store these treasures up for ourselves.
So how do we store up treasure in heaven instead?
Luke 12 records a similar sermon told by Jesus. In verses 13-21, Jesus indicates that a life of selfish gain is a life of ruin. In verse 33 and 34, he explains that living generously is of greater eternal value than accumulating treasures on earth:
Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Does God just want money? No. Our money isn’t nearly enough. God wants everything.
That means we can be generous with our homes. We can be generous with our marriages. We can be generous with our struggles. We can be generous with our prayers. We can be generous with our wisdom. We can be generous with our encouragement.
God loved, so He gave. As disciples of Jesus, we love, so we give.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot, American Missionary
