Treasures in Heaven

Do you want to be rich? Would you like to be a billionaire one day? Almost everybody wants to be rich. God asked Solomon in a dream, "What shall I give you?"(1 Kings 3:5). Although Solomon could have asked to be rich, he did not. He asked for wisdom instead of riches. This pleased the Lord, and He gave Solomon both wisdom and riches. As long as we have wisdom, we will always be rich.

Everything that we have was given to us by God. Therefore we ought to use everything we have for God's glory. The money we have is a result of God's physical blessings. So do all faithful Christians have a lot of money? No. But is every Christian rich? Yes! Jesus taught more about the proper use of money than He taught about the subjects of lying, cheating, stealing, and murder combined. Jesus taught that money is not the most important thing, because eventually it will be destroyed. Instead, Jesus said: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:19-20).

When we give our money to the work of the church, we are laying up treasures in heaven. When we sacrifice some of our wants, in order to give to other people's needs, we are laying up treasures in heaven. We must use our money in God's best interest, because it really is His anyway. Everything on this Earth is God's, and we are just taking care of these physical blessings for a short while. The apostle Peter said: "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10-11).

As you grow older, you will learn to use your money wisely. You will learn that the things that seem important now really are not all that important. You will learn that the most important use you will find for money is to give it to others who need it. Don't be like the man in Matthew 25 who was afraid and hid his money in the ground. Be bold, and do the work of the church that God put us here to do.

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