Digging Deeper – November 14, 2023
Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.
James 5:2-3 (NLT)
TREASURES IN HEAVEN
There have been a couple times during our marriage when Amy and I rented a temporary self-storage unit. Both times, we had put our home on the market, and we needed to stage it to make a more positive impression upon potential buyers. In other words, we needed to de-clutter and “open it up” a bit more.
What you may not realize is how vast the self-storage industry has become in the U.S. These numbers are astonishing:
- There are now more than 1.7 billion square feet of self-storage space in the U.S. (as of 2022)
- Another 53 million square feet of self-storage space is being added to that figure in 2023
- 1 in 5 Americans currently use self-storage
Yesterday, we talked about contentment. Well, this is a further indictment on this same subject. We think more will satisfy, but it simply doesn’t.
Even 2,000 years ago, long before Beverly Hills, Lamborghini, and Rolex – Jesus knew the pitfalls of accumulating worldly riches:
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21
Even if we’re not bound to be featured on an upcoming episode of Hoarders, you and I can likely do better at heeding Jesus’ sage advice. Here are some questions for us to ponder today, as we wrestle with the tension we create in our own minds of “Not Having Enough vs. Having More Than Enough.”
- What do you think Jesus means by “Treasure in Heaven”?
- What’s one step you can take personally to begin to build up treasure in heaven?
C.A. Phillips serves as Communications Pastor and Director of Men’s Groups at NorthStar Church. He is a graduate of the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, and he loves the Dawgs and the Atlanta Braves. He has two (grown) boys and lives in Kennesaw with his wife, Amy, and their German Shepherd, Abby.
