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, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not
break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Mathew.
6:19—21)
Because one of our most priceless possessions is the mind of Christ, we have the same attitudes and same thoughts as Jesus Christ. We are not going to be interested in storing up things for ourselves down here.
I once heard a Catholic priest say, “The only thing a dead man holds in his hands are the things he has given to God.” How true.
When they put your body in a casket, they can put a fur coat on you, they can wrap you in your finest mink, they can load your hands with diamonds, but it won’t do the least bit of good. All we are going to take out of this earth are the things we’ve given to God. We ought to be extremely interested in our heavenly bank accounts.
One of the best deposits we can ever make into our heavenly bank account is a deposit slip showing the names of he souls of people who might not have ever met Jesus if we had not shared the Gospel with them. We can give glory to God, which is one of the greatest ways I know of to tore up treasures in heaven. We can lay hands on the sick and heal them, and we know this gives God tremendous joy. Put those things in your bank account that add up in heaven instead of earthly bank accounts that mean nothing to God!
Allowing the mind of Christ to be in you means that you are not going to be laying up the glory of this world.
We are not going to be laying up the deceit of this world.
We are not going to be storing up the kind of riches down here that people think are so important. Sometimes we think this means only money, but there are many other things people feel bring glory.
How many times have we seen TV and Hollywood stars rise up rapidly to fame and fortune? All their earthly treasures are invested in the flimsy values and glory that temporarily accompany them.
When their world crashes, they and their earthly treasures often end in suicide.
The Word says, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven”
(Matthew. 6:20). What are our treasures? They are the very desires of our hearts—the very things we hold near and dear to us.
Let the things that you hold dear be exactly the things Jesus valued. What did He value? He valued the souls of humans, the health and healing of humans, and the deliverance of humans. He held God dear to His heart.
If we are to store up treasures in heaven where nothing can ever get in and disturb or destroy them, we must learn to develop the attributes of Jesus. We can then store the things that are pleasing to God in our heavenly bank account, the things that are the very mind of Christ.
Matthew 11:28—30 gives us some wonderful words from Jesus:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for Jam gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
I’m going to believe with all my heart, my mind, my body, and my soul that the yoke Jesus gives us is not a heavy yoke. His burden is light. We do not have to be burdened down with the cares of the world. We do not have to be worried all the time because He says, “You take My yoke because My burden is light, and I’ll take care of your life for you.”
I especially love the Amplified version. It reads, “I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls... .My yoke is wholesome, (useful, good) —not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant; and My burden is light and easy to be borne” (Matthew 11:28, 30). Glory! Give all your burdens to Him!
We know all these wonderful promises of God, but we need to have them brought to the surface occasionally in a different way, or at a different time. An “oldie” that is a favorite of mine is,
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure a man discovered in a field. In his excitement, he sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field—and get
the treasure, too! Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. He discovered a real bargain—a pearl of great value—and sold everything he owned to purchase it! (Matthew 13:44—
46 TLB)
Possessing the mind of Christ, we should see exactly what Jesus was saying. Very simply He was saying, “If you will give up everything and follow Me, then that is worth more than anything in the whole world. It’s worth everything to follow Me!” One man sold everything to receive the treasure in the field, and one man sold everything to get the pearl of great price.