10.10.08

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. - Matthew 6:19-34.

In February of 1999, on the front page of our morning newspaper was a photo of the charred remains of a couple’s dreams. Bill and Shirley Brunkhorst were building a triple deck excursion paddle boat called "The Eufaula Queen." A spark from a welder’s torch destroyed their life savings along with the four years of effort spent in building the boat. There was no insurance to cover the damage. As most would be, the Brunkhorsts were emotional traumatized by their loss.

We have to admire the Brunkhorsts for their years of effort in pursuing their dream. They designed the boat themselves even without engineering degrees. Sadly, what has happened to the dreams of the Brunkhorsts often happens to earthly dreams. Many of you have experienced traumatic material losses as well. You have lost jobs, businesses, or homes. Many of you in the space of a few weeks have lost the dreams that you had for retirement as the stock market has plunged down further and further decimating your 401ks. One thing we know about the things here on Planet Earth, these things are temporary. A welder’s spark, a wrong turn, a momentary decision, or greed of people you do not even know can destroy your worldly dreams.

While we pursue our careers, build businesses, and plan for retirement hopefully someday, let us not forget that earthly things are temporary. There is a finite amount of time for us to possess whatever we have here. Should we not be storing up treasures in Heaven as we walk along the highways of life? When we have spent 10,000 years in Heaven, these things we treasure now upon earth will have very little meaning to us.

Let us remember that whatever we may be facing that God is still God, and He is the One, who can carry us through these difficult times.