Live to Live Again

“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. “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:19-24‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Jesus instructs us not to stock pile treasures on earth. Instead, He instructs us to store them up in heaven. Earth, as we now know it, is temporary. Everything in, and on, it will perish. The structures of the world will be laid to waste and the currency we use will become nothing in the coming kingdom. Listen to what the Holy Spirit said through the Apostle Peter:
“But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved..."
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3:10-15‬a NLT
We spend so much time and energy trying to acquire money and "stuff"! Our time is limited and our resources are corruptible. We must live for the Source not the resource. God is the source, not money and things!!
The life we now live and the things we get to manage are salvageable though. If we utilize our lives, and the resources we get to manage, in service to Jesus Christ we will receive a great reward in eternity that is not perishable!
As born again believers in Jesus Christ, may we use the time, treasure, and talents He has entrusted to us to glorify His name and invest them in His kingdom. In this manner we will never lose them. In fact, we lay them up for eternity. The beauty in this is that God is allowing us to live now by His grace and we are granted the opportunity to send our blessings ahead of us into eternity. There, we will be able to enjoy them in their purest form. The best is yet to come!
“Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19:28-30‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Don't just live for the "now" that you can't retain. Live to live again!!

Curtis R. Norris