UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEAVENLY TREASURE
(week 39/09)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Matthew 6:19-21 ESV: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Here, the Lord Jesus tells us to lay up treasures in heaven and not on the earth.
Does this mean we should not have any treasures on earth?
No. What it means is that the bulk of your treasure will be in heaven while only relatively (they maybe very large to you but compared to what you have in heaven they will be small) small portions of it will be brought into the earth, on a regular basis, for you to use to meet your needs and desires according to the will of God.
Philippians 4:19 ESV: And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
How then do we lay up these riches in glory: treasures in the heaven?
Heaven or glory here means the spiritual realm where God dwells. We lay up treasure in heaven by giving tithes, offerings and gifts to bless others. When we do these, our heavenly account is credited with a 100 fold of what we have given:
Mark 10:29-30 ESV: Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, (30) who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
Genesis 26:12 ESV: and Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him,
Every Christian is an ‘Isaac’ because like Isaac (Rom.9:8), we are born by the power of the Spirit and not by the will of man or of the flesh (Jn. 1:13) and when we sow by giving our tithes, offerings and gifts, our heavenly account is credited with a 100 fold return on what we have sown.
Obviously, any Christian who has been consistently giving over many years would be a rich person according to this scripture; and this is the will of God:
2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Now, since this is so, why are many Christians poor, even though they are rich?
Revelation 2:9 ESV: I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Many rich Christians are poor, because they do not know how to withdraw on finances and material needs from their heavenly account: their riches in glory.
In our article next week, we will see how to withdraw finances and material things from our heavenly account.
