Treasure

In the Gospel reading this past Sunday (Forgiveness Sunday, Mat 6:14-21), our Lord teaches, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven....For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  

Treasure.  What does it mean to YOU?

For many, we think of piles of money, stashed away in bank vaults, or large numbers on a spreadsheet showing assets in a 401k.  Maybe for some it's the car in the garage.  For others it may be the home in which one lives.  Officially, it is "accumulated or stored wealth; valuable or precious possessions of any kind."  It is clearly something that can be different for different people.

But let's dig deeper.  The word "precious" was used above, so let's go to the superlatives.  What is the MOST precious thing in your life?  One article I read recently suggested three things as being most precious.  In third place was time.  We never seem to have enough, and what we do have is constantly slipping away from us.  In second place was freedom.  It is a condition that is NOT guaranteed, and unless we are vigilant, it too can slip away from us.  In first place was integrity.  The writer's perspective was that even if we have no control over what happens to us in time, and our freedoms are taken from us, integrity is something that cannot be removed - it is part of the person's being.  Again, words have meanings, and so how does one define integrity?  It is the steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code - by definition.

I would define integrity with another word, or perhaps substitute this word for it.

Faith!

As in the previous definition, faith cannot be taken from the one who possesses it.  Faith can be strictly adhered to regardless of external pressure or conditions.  And in fact faith grows stronger, it increases when tested.

But let's go back to our Lord's words with which we opened this piece.  That focus was on treasure.

Do we treasure our faith?  If yes, how do we show this in our lives?  If an innocent bystander sees you standing next to a person with NO faith in Christ, what will he or she see that differentiates you from the other?

You see, in this context "treasure" is not something that we put away from sight from others around us.  We don't want neighbors, or sometimes even family members, to know what is in a bank account or IRA.  But we SHOULD, we MUST want them to be able to be witnesses of what a life in Christ means to us.  It needs to be openly apparent to all.  Maybe it's a smile that doesn't fade.  Maybe it's being willing to listen more and speak less.  Maybe it's that unmistakeable tendancy of being giving.  However it manifests itself, it needs to be clear that something (and this means Some One) has made a change in us, and in following Him we truly ARE different from many others.

Treasure.  The Greek word used is θησαυρός, thesauros, the word from which our contemporary word thesaurus derives.  It comes from the root meaning repository or collection.  In our use it simply means a collection of words.  In our Lord's use, it points to that collection of experiences and/or deeds in our lives that make us more than what we were.  Almsgiving.  Prayer.  Study of scripture.  Kind words to those who need.  Feeding the hungry.  Clothing the naked.  Repenting of wrongs done.  Each of these is a very valuable thing, and can be 'banked' into the heavenly account our Lord points to in this Gospel lesson.

You can be penniless in this world, and the richest of those in the Kingdom.  It all depends on where your bank is located!