Don’t lay up treasures on earth
Title page of Daily Readings for a Year, on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Today's Devotional
Read Matthew 6:19-24.
[Christ] would not have anyone limit his desires by the boundary of this present life, by what is vain and fleeting, but look forward to that which is unseen and eternal. It is utter madness for men to attempt to lay up treasures upon earth, to seek to surround themselves with the possessions or the splendor of the world, for they are not only liable to that decay which necessarily befalls all earthly things, but evil chances or an unforeseen change of circumstances may at any time rob us of them... “God would not have you lose your wealth,” says S. Augustine, “but he has given you counsel to change the place thereof.” Suppose a friend of yours was now to enter your house, and find you have placed your store of grain in a damp place….“Brother,” he would say, “you are losing what with great toil you have gathered; you have placed it in a damp place, in a few days this grain will decay.”
“And what am I to do?” you would ask.
“Raise it into a higher place,” would be his answer. You would listen to your friend’s suggestion …and will you not listen to Christ charging you to lift your treasure from earth to heaven?
...The reason why Christ would have his people lay up treasure in heaven is in order that their hearts may be there also. If a man’s treasure is on earth, his whole thoughts, desires and affections will be earthly: as Christ says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” ....
But someone may say or think, “I will have treasure upon earth, and treasure in heaven also. Is it not possible that my heart may be partly in heaven, even though it be not wholly there?” Our Lord proceeds to show that this is impossible by a kind of parable ... “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon….”
Is it not the rarest thing in the world to meet with any one who is not guided by considerations of worldly advantage, rather than by the simple question of God’s will? And yet we see who it is that tells us, that whosoever suffers himself to be so guided is the slave of mammon, rather than the servant of God. We can have but one God, one master: let us be very careful that our God is the only true one.
About the author and the source
Each day of Peter Young’s readings included a three- to four-page meditation on selected words of Christ or an incident from the life of Christ. Young (who lived in the 19th century) was Rector of North Witham in Lincolnshire. We edited today’s entry more than usual to make it easier to read for a modern audience.
Peter Young. Daily Readings for a Year, on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. London, n.d.