Jesus told an interesting story about renting storage units. Actually the main character, a wealthy farmer, owned the whole storage facility. He’d built it because he was succeeding so dramatically he needed bigger storerooms to hold his harvests. His goal, sternly criticized by Jesus, was to store so much, he wouldn’t have to work anymore but could become a full-time party-guy.

Jesus labeled this man “a fool” because (unbeknownst to the farmer) he was going to die that night. Since he hadn’t made any plans for eternity let alone stored anything there, his afterlife was going to be dreadful.

Although I’m not wealthy and my storage dilemmas are all about a glut of household goods, the principle in Jesus’ story still applies: none of us should stockpile earthly treasure if it means forfeiting a rich relationship with God. Jesus wasn’t critical of the man for being wealthy; his severe judgment was solely based on the farmer’s trust in that wealth for happiness and security.

This farmer was keenly focused on his storage units. As rich as he was, he probably lay in bed at night wondering if animals might eat his stockpiled crops, if the weather would be good enough to produce a bigger yield the following year, and if he’d need to build additional storage units for future bumper crops. His mind was on his wealth, and his heart beat fervently for more of it.

Back in Matthew 6 when Jesus cautioned us not to amass earthly treasure but to deposit it in heaven instead, his main concern was not the treasure. It was that a focus on earthly possessions causes us damage, while attention to heavenly treasure gives us hope for a rich future. What we own today can captivate our hearts and consume our thoughts, pulling us from a heavenly perspective.

God wants us to center our thinking on what comes after this life, as the old chorus says, to live “with eternity’s values in view.” Scripture puts it powerfully, telling us wherever our stash of treasure is, whether on earth or in heaven, that’s where our heart and passion will be.

Many of us have to fight ourselves daily to keep our hearts in the right place. I’ve been tempted to view my children and grandchildren as my treasure. The majority of my emotionally charged moments have involved this group, and they have occupied much of my thinking. Mothering is an extreme delight, and my heart is with my children.

But by God’s standards, this treasure-balance is skewed away from heaven and toward earth. These “kids” aren’t really my treasure but his. I can, however, love them on earth in a heavenly-treasure sort of way: I can translate my focus on their lives into prayer for them and with them; I can testify to God’s greatness in my own life, hoping they’ll trust him, too; and I can point to God’s Word as the one anchor that’ll hold during life’s storms. In short, I can coax my children toward my life’s number one treasure, the Lord himself.

And if I should die tonight along with the farmer, my heart would be just fine with that.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

We all know moths can eat clothes and rust can eat metal, but the real message of Matthew 6:20 is that storing too many treasures is risky, and not just for the treasures.

But what about the second part of that verse, thieves breaking in to steal? It’s not just one, but multiple thieves. This week someone asked me, “Do you ever get scared living alone?”

I answered “no” but last night did have a flash-fear moment. While brushing my teeth in the upstairs bathroom, I thought I heard someone crawling on the roof. Since the room has a dormer window, the roof was only inches over my head, and in an instant of wild imagination, I pictured a furtive figure moving along the shingles toward the bathroom window with a desire to break in.

I took a deep breath and pulled back the curtain ever-so-slightly to take a peek, hoping I wouldn’t be nose-to-nose with a thief. And there on the snowy roof was the explanation: raccoon paw prints.

The Matthew verse about thieves isn’t meant to frighten us but to caution us not to store too much on earth that’s worth stealing. Scripture does tell us, though, there’s one category of stuff we’re supposed to store: treasures in heaven.

What is that?

As a little child I brought pennies to Sunday school knotted in the corner of Mom’s linen hankie, eager to unwrap them and drop them in the offering basket. I figured those pennies magically ascended from the basket to God’s home in heaven where he saved them for lofty purposes.

Then I grew into the double digit years, and common sense told me my offering coins were the definition of “treasures in heaven.” Now, however, I see God’s treasure is not money at all, although dollars can evolve into heavenly treasure by what they accomplish. The Lord does, however, let us know there’s a wide variety of other ways we can store it.

Helping someone who needs help is one example. And if we set aside something we wanted to do for ourselves in order to help that person, the treasure is a bit bigger.

We can also store heavenly treasure by making righteous choices when no one is watching us.

Another way is to squelch our natural selfishness in favor of demonstrating the nine fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness kindness and self-control). Each is a treasure in heaven.

I believe sincere prayer for the interests of others is also a treasure to God. And doing our part to explain the Gospel to those who will listen has heavenly worth, too.

Any time we act in love toward another, especially if that one is difficult to love, we’re safely storing something in heaven. In short, whenever we obey God, it’s a spiritual ka-ching no thief can touch.

Interestingly, some translations of Matthew 6:20 say, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” In God’s economy, what we do on earth for others just may end up benefiting us in the next world.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if our loving Lord has set it up exactly that way.

“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20)

I Linnea, Margaret’s daughter) was a little concerned when I woke up this morning and saw that my mom hadn’t put up a new post. It doesn’t matter if she’s on a vacation, not feeling well, or up with friends until 2am. She always does a new post. I sent her a text at 6am (I have a 10-month old who woke me up at 5am) and tried not to worry.

At 8:30am, my mom wrote back and said their internet’s down because of a winter storm. “I drove all over at midnight trying to catch someone’s signal. It didn’t even work at the public library!” she said. My mom is very attached to you, blog reader.

Hopefully she’ll be back online soon, sharing the wisdom God gives her each day. I know this isn’t a real post, but I figured she’d still want me to wrap it up with a verse. I love you, Mom!

“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7