By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“You have to decide to servant the gods of materialism all around us or the true and living God.” – Billy Graham

You may have seen the popular bumper sticker:

WHOEVER DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS

I think that most of us look upon this saying and chuckle at the wayward soul who may actually believe it. We think it is an absurd motto by which to live one’s life. Of course, that isn’t true, we think. But do we live like such a statement is false?

I am reminded of when I was a child, after a heavy snow, the time came for me and my siblings to attempt to build a snowman. With much care and a lot of time, we built the snowman from the ground up – rolling big balls of snow for the body, finding rocks for the eyes and mouth, pushing in a stick to act as a nose. Hours went by as we perfected each feature and rounded each corner.

Such an effort went into constructing a snowman though we each knew full well that our new friend was only temporary. Over the coming weeks, the nose began to droop, his body lost its shape, and the eyes and mouth fell back onto the ground. Drop after drop spilled from the snowman until it disappeared entirely, leaving behind a pile of pebbles and a stick.

I think that approach our possessions here on earth the same way. We work so hard to develop material items and gather the most toys. But in the end, just like the snowman, all our belongings will fade away.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

Material possessions are temporary, but the treasures we store up in heaven are eternal. There are humans on earth who live in giant mansions, own countless belongings, and have multiple figures in their bank accounts, but their eternal home is bare, with cobwebs in the corner and dust on the ground.

What if we worked as hard storing up treasures in heaven as we do storing up treasures on earth? People will face freezing temperatures, camping outside of retail stores for days leading up to Black Friday, but can’t ever find the time to go to church. Others will spend countless hours in the mall, hunting down the best deals, leaving with armfuls of shopping bags, but they don’t ever find ways to serve others.

I’m not saying that buying new things is bad. I’m certainly not writing about the evils of shopping malls. I’m simply asking, where are you storing up your treasures?

Parents: Read the verse from Matthew 6 to your children. Ask them what it means to store up treasures in heaven.