By G.D. Watson
"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." Matt. 6:20-21.
"Knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance." Heb. 10: 34.
The central truth in these verses is the statement, "where the treasure is there will the heart be." The author of the human heart alone knows all its boundless and mysterious workings. He does not say where the heart is there will the treasure be, but where the treasure is there will the heart be. The heart will follow its treasure as infallibly as the mother will follow her offspring, or rivers flow toward the sea. Let the treasure consist of anything, be located in any clime, or be ever so worthless to others, if it be really regarded as a treasure, thither will the heart fly and hover around it.
In saving and restoring man to the image of God, Jesus does not plan to destroy a single law or instinct of the soul, but to purge out of it every perversion of sin, so that with all its instincts purified and unimpaired it will act in harmony with the purpose of God. One of the earliest and strongest instincts of the heart is a certain definite attachment to our possessions. This attachment to possessions is not the result of education or a thoughtful estimate of values, but a powerful instinctive action of the mind. Among the first thoughts of childhood is this idea of possession, and when a toy is placed in an infant's hand he at once has the idea of ownership, and with that thought springs up an attachment for the treasure, manifested by his cries and loud expostulations on having it taken from him. His reason could not explain it, but he feels it as distinctly as a millionaire. It is also the dictate of reason, it forms a mighty stimulus to industry and inventions, it imparts an energy to society and prompts to economy, wisdom and care. Christ recognized this principle to be fundamental and right. But seeing the principle perverted by sin, and the heart thoroughly engrossed with fictitious treasures He commands that all His followers shall relinquish all passionate heart attachment for treasures which are imaginary, and have the heart thoroughly set on true riches; and in doing so proves Himself an infinite Friend to the soul. This command to the natural man seems very hard, but under the baptism of the Spirit it can be fully obeyed. When the early Christians lost their earthly estates by confiscation, the apostle tells us, "They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance." Let us notice some contrasts between earthly and heavenly treasures.
1st. Earthly treasure is only the instrument of pleasure, while treasure in heaven is the very essence and substance of pleasure itself. There is a vast difference between the instrument which secures a joy and joy itself -- just as the mill which grinds the wheat is different from the bread. All the riches of earth, in whatever form they may exist, can only serve as a means to an end, and when riches are looked upon as an end, they prove to be apples of Sodom. And even as an instrument, wealth is often unavailing. There are times when all the abundance of gold cannot buy a drop of water, or a mouthful of bread, or avert calamity, or ease a pain; and while as an instrument it is capable of producing innumerable comforts and smoothing our passage through life in general, yet the richest often witness its inefficiency. But heavenly treasure is not an instrument; it is an everlasting fruition; it enters into the very body and substance of true happiness. It is an estate of a moral and spiritual nature. The wealth of earth is a machine which may bring us a few drops of transient happiness, but wealth laid up in heaven forms an ocean of unalloyed bliss in which the soul may bathe, with the certainty of never losing it. Earthly riches make to themselves wings and fly away, but the gold tried in the fire is imperishable.
2d. Earthly treasure from its very nature can never fill or satisfy the mind. It excites the faculties and inflames the passions, but can never satisfy them. They start a train of desires and ambitions which they can never fulfill; they start a feverish thirst for acquisition which they can never quench. A child may start a machine which it is unable to stop. Milton personifies Sin, the portress at the gates of hell, as unlocking those gates, but having no power to shut them again. So earthly riches open the gate of the desires but cannot shut or fill them. And this applies equally to those of great or little wealth. And then, the uncertainty of their duration, the anxiety of guarding them, agitates the heart, disturbs repose of mind, and turns what promised to be a blessing into a source of misery. On the other hand, treasures laid up in heaven will fill every capacity they create. Such riches excite the heart without leaving the least agitation upon it; they kindle desires but also satisfy them; they draw the soul out in longings and thirstings for more and more, but always keep the possessor in tranquillity. And the consciousness that such wealth is unchangeable and immortal banishes all anxiety. A small fortune with the absolute certainty of its never being diminished is far more satisfactory than great riches held in uncertainty. So heavenly riches do not contract the soul or unduly excite it, while accompanied by the principle of eternal security.
3d. Earthly wealth used only for earthly purposes can never enter into union with the Spirit, but must always remain external to the soul; but when used for the glory of God it passes, as it were, into a heavenly state, it becomes identified with the immortal spirit, and incorporated with everlasting character. It is the apotheosis of wealth. True, the gold itself remains material, but being used in the divine will it represents holy character, accomplishes holy results, and is, in a certain sense, glorified. It is in this sense that Jesus says, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." Luke 16: 9.
That is, take earthly riches which when used sinfully become the idol mammon, but when used under the direction of the Holy Ghost in doing good to the bodies and souls of mankind, we make immortal friendships for ourselves, and when we fail on earth, these friends we have made, whether among the heathen or at home, and have been the means of saving them through our money, will welcome us at death into everlasting habitations. So that in a sense the eagle stamped on every dollar we give to God will be transformed into an angel to welcome us to the portals of bliss.
Riches when used only for the present life are like the clouds that shine brightly during the brief day of our earthly existence, but when the sun of life is set, they turn to cold lumps of darkness and fade into everlasting night; but when used for the glory of God, they resemble the vapors around the sun, which are always bright with an internal and intrinsic light.
4th. Earthly wealth is not really our own. Our possession of it is more of a fiction than a reality; it belonged to others, it will soon belong to others again. We borrow the garments of animals to clothe ourselves, we proudly deck our bodies with silk which has already served the silk-worm for a shroud, and will soon serve us in the same capacity. How emphatic the language of the Holy Ghost, "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." We make our advent in nakedness and poverty, we assume control of all earthly treasures for a brief period, we claim the earth and the sea, we contest for trifles, and then pass out leaving all behind us, except that character which we have formed while passing across this narrow stage of being. But the treasure which we have laid up in heaven, is, in a high and proper sense, our own. The industry that worked, the act of giving, the love that prompted the act, the prayer that accompanied the act, are emphatically our own. This species of wealth can never be transferred to another; it is a kind of wealth that was never borrowed and will never be relinquished. The increase of this wealth does not impoverish another. How sad to think that not only worldlings, but vast numbers or professed Christians are using this world in such a way as to lay up no good store for the time to come.
We can lay up treasure in heaven by observing three things.
1st. By giving the best we can. The best of time, of thought, of health, of influence, and by giving the best percentage we can of our earnings or our income.
2d. By giving everything in the best spirit. Cheerfully, gladly, without grumbling or grudging; by giving regularly, religiously, rejoicingly; by giving in the love of Jesus, for the love of our fellows, looking for more love us our greatest reward.
3d. By giving to the best ends, to save the souls of men; by giving for immediate relief, instead of giving for long results in the ages to come; by giving in such a way as to accomplish most directly and immediately the best results first to the souls and then to the bodies of mankind. What we give, we save. We are emigrating to a distant world and the treasure we send ahead of us will form our best estate.
