God blessed me with an amazing quiet time last Thursday, and I would love to share with you some of the things He taught me.
For almost two weeks now I have been going through one passage from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7 each day. Thursday I was reading the ‘lay up your treasures in heaven’ passage, and I prayed that God would reveal something new to me from it because I had read it and heard it preached on probably a million times. Boy did He ever deliver!
The first thing I noticed was the context of this scripture. It is proceeded by multiple passages where Jesus tells us how we are supposed to pray, fast, and give to the needy. All of them had two opposed methods; a public one, in which the goal is to gain approval or status, and a private one whose goal is to please God and build a relationship with Him. A phrase that is repeated in regards to the first method is this; “Truly I say to you, they have recieved their reward.” All that you gain from doing ‘religous’ things for the sake of yourself is simply earthly status and glory. While those who do these things in secret will be rewarded by their heavenly Father. But what does this reward even look like? Appropriately enough the next passage is about heavenly treasure.
I encourage you at this time to open your own bibles to Matthew 6:19-24 if you have them handy as I will be quoting and paraphrasing but it would be more beneficial to read the whole passage through beforehand.
To start out, it is pretty clear that those ‘public’ types from previous verses were storing up treasure like status and reputation here on earth. They will not last. However, Jesus tells us heavenly treasure is indestructible and eternal. But what is it? I used to just assume it would be some sort of crown I would get in heaven after death with a diamond for every selfless deed, an emerald for an act of kindness or mercy, etc. But God challenged me to think of them not as trophies but as gifts from God. Gifts of overflowing love, mercy, grace, forgiveness accessible to us while on earth. Even more accessible than earthy rewards like status or money. There is a neverending storehouse of God’s character up there, and God has given us the key!
What hinders us from accessing these gifts is our earthly mindset. In the next verses Jesus talks about the ‘eye’ and how whatever it is looking at, light or darkness, determines the health of the entire body. So, if we have an eternal mindset we will be looking at the light. No more stumbling around, groping and clutching to whatever we happen to find. Instead we will see ourselves and others and our situations in God’s clarity.
I realized that for a long time I had been trying to look at myself, understand myself in the darkness. If you have ever been in a cave and they turned the lamps off you will understand that although you know your hand is in front of your face, your vague sense of presence does not give you a clear picture of your hand.
I am excited to begin sharing with you the things God is teaching me in this blog series. Thank you all for the support you have given me and the people I am ministering. God bless you, and have an amazing week!
Maggie
