Treasures in Heaven
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." — Matthew 6:21
A Question Raised in a Cancer Ward
During a season working in oncology, something troubled a young doctor deeply.
Professing Christians, on receiving a diagnosis of cancer, almost uniformly fell apart.
Not some of them. Nearly all of them. And she could not understand why.
She sought the Lord about it, and He gave her this in answer:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19–21)
Christians, for the most part, are not laying up treasure in heaven. Their treasures are here on earth — and so are their hearts. That is precisely why the prospect of dying in the near future devastates them.
What the Treasure Is Not
That answer raised a further question: what exactly are treasures in heaven?
The few sermons she had heard on the subject interpreted them as the good works a Christian has done during life.
But that could not be the answer — because many of the Christians she worked with who could not face death had done a great many good works for the Lord.
Works was not the answer.
What the Treasure Actually Is
She went back to the Lord and asked Him to show her exactly what these treasures were. The answer came after several weeks of seeking and searching the Scriptures:
The greatest treasure we can ever have is a personal, one-to-one knowledge of God Himself.
That is what a man can carry out of this world. Not a record of achievement. Not a reputation. Not even a legacy. A relationship with a Person who is already there.
A believer who genuinely knows God is not devastated by the prospect of seeing Him sooner. A believer who knows only about Him is losing everything he has.
Why This Explains So Much
Consider how much this single insight accounts for.
It explains why some of the most active Christians are the least stable in crisis.
It explains why doctrine alone, however sound, does not hold a person up.
It explains why the great figures of Scripture could face death, prison, and loss with such composure — Paul writing "to die is gain" from a cell (Philippians 1:21).
And it explains what all the covenants in this study have been for. Every one of them was God offering to be known.
Point to Ponder
A believer who knows God is not devastated by the prospect of seeing Him sooner. A believer who knows about Him is losing everything.
Verse to Remember
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." — Matthew 6:21
Question to Consider
If I were told this week that I had six months to live, what would my reaction reveal about where my treasure is?
Today's Practice
Answer that question honestly, in writing. Not the answer you should give — the one you would actually have.
What would you grieve most? What would you scramble to finish? What would you regret?
Then make a second list: what do I actually know of God — personally, from experience, not from books?
Not doctrines you affirm. Occasions. Times He spoke, provided, corrected, comforted, or made Himself known. Write them down with whatever detail you can recall.
For many people this second list is startlingly short, and seeing that is the most valuable outcome of the exercise.
Then pray specifically for the rest of these lessons: "Father, I have been storing everything on earth. Teach me to know You — not to know about You. I want the treasure I can carry out of this world."
Prayer
Father, I have laid up my treasure on earth and my heart has followed it exactly where You said it would.
My security is in my health, my money, my family, my plans, and my usefulness. If those were taken this month, I would come apart — and I would come apart in front of people who are watching me to see whether any of this is real.
I have done things for You. I have very little personal knowledge of You. And I see now that works were never the treasure.
Teach me to know You. Speak to me. Make Yourself known to me the way You made Yourself known to Your servants throughout Scripture.
I want the one treasure that moth and rust cannot touch and no thief can reach — and I understand now that the treasure is You.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Every covenant in this study has been the same offer: God proposing to be known.