Storing Up Treasure

 By: Joanne Viola

 

“I am going to start a new online business,” I announced jokingly to my children.”

“I am going to become an online virtual babysitter.”

During the years when we all were spending way too much time in our own homes, also known as isolation, Facetime was the means by which we stayed connected.

By we, I mean my grandchildren and myself.

The time occupied my grandchildren and gave their parents a little break. One never knew what to expect or what adventure a bored child might take me on.

Truth be known, I loved every minute of it.

Now I am doing it with other grandchildren who live a little distance away from us. Facetime has become a gift in ways I didn’t realize until the other day.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-21, NASB)

Sure, the verses are exhorting us to store up spiritual treasures. But if we dig a little deeper, we just may come to realize there are many sorts of treasures to which we can apply this principle.

Most often we think of treasure as being wealth of money, jewelry, and property. But treasure truly is that which we esteem as having great worth or value.

And that can also include our families.

The silly things I talk about and do with my grandchildren on facetime is a treasure. A treasure of memories which I hope will last through eternity.

We are making connection, forging relationships, and laughing. Hopefully these days won’t be forgotten.

Face to face communication is important, vital to relationship. God knew that. Think about it.

“Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.”
(Exodus 33:11, NASB)

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part,
but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”
(1 Corinthians 13:12, NASB)

“They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.”
(Revelation 22:4, NKJV)

We will one day see Jesus face to face, and until that day, we get a glimpse of Him through His Word, through creation, and through other believers.

Until that day,
we store up treasure so that in our lives
we make Jesus known to those around us.

 

Reflection:
How do you spend time making memories with the people you love?
What do you need to do in order to make these sort of experiences a priority with those you love?

 

Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash