19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6: 19-21
Financial gurus train people to have the right mindset about saving and investing money towards building wealth. It is indeed important to save in a consumerist culture.
Jesus talks of a very different mindset of storing treasures in heaven to secure your future. As we welcome the Advent season, let’s get into the mindset of our Saviour Jesus. Jesus knew heaven’s glory and He wanted us humans to enjoy the glory too, hence He came down for us. Jesus demonstrated a life where He focused on the joys of heaven amidst the earthly suffering. Our attitude to money could be a good indicator of how heavenly minded we are (Luke 16:13).
The key is to check what brings joy to you – spending on yourself or on others. Years ago, my husband and I with our boys moved out of our native country prompted to be witnesses of Christ to the nations. It was an interesting life where we did not own anything and were foreigners wherever we went. As we moved countries, we left behind everything we used there and started afresh in the new one. God taught us the joys of living as foreigners – to loosely hold on to possessions, but tightly hold on to Him. The mindset of a foreigner, because we are citizens of heaven, is the perspective the Father God asks of us today.
Corrie ten Boon says, “Hold loosely to the things of this life, so that if God requires them of you, it will be easy to let them go.”
Activity:
Let God show you how to be generous and proactive to ‘save treasures’ this week.
Be Thou My Vision
Prophetic Focus:
Phillipians 3:7-10
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 … I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9, …. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection, …
Declare Christ as your treasure and everything else garbage compared to Him.
Gaining and knowing Christ empowers to secure treasures in heaven.
Prayer Focus:
Pray:
- That you would live as a foreigner on earth waiting for Jesus. (1 Peter 2:11)
- For a generous heart and faith in giving as God guides you.
- For wisdom to invest your time/rise up to build God’s church through your gifts and talents
- That TVCC would be a model of giving to the community, just like Jesus freely did.
30 Nov 2021
