- TREASURES IN HEAVEN - Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves

A Beleaguered Gold Prospector

“Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves” (Matthew 6:20, NLT).

Dear Friends,

A display in a museum in Deadwood, South Dakota, includes an inscription scrawled many years ago by a beleaguered prospector: "I lost my gun. I lost my horse. I am out of food. The Indians are after me. But I've got all the gold I can carry."

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The prospector had one objective in mind -- to get rich. In his desperate craving to pile up wealth, he risked and lost everything he had -- even his life. And he found that he could not take his gold with him.

About his wealth, years ago a famous comedian humorously cracked, "Well, if I can't take it with me, I'm not going."

That comedian died many years ago and, of course, he left his wealth behind.

One man reportedly arrived at the Pearly Gates pushing a wheelbarrow full of gold. (Maybe it was the above prospector!)

He insisted on taking it in. But St. Peter asked, "Why did you bring all that street pavement with you?"

Of course, in this facetious story, he would not need that "street pavement" on streets already paved with the substance.

It is true that we cannot take it with us. But we can send it up ahead!

John is a millionaire determined to take his riches with him when he dies. "I'm a very shrewd businessman," he told me one day. "I have made it on my own. It took many years and a lot of hard work to get where I am, and I don't like the idea of leaving it all behind. Somebody told me that I can send it ahead, so I am storing my treasures in heaven by giving large sums of money to the cause of Christ and doing acts of kindness for those who love the Lord."

Everything we do to bring men and women into the kingdom of God, every act of kindness, every expression of love, every dollar spent, is laying up treasure in God's storehouse.

A delicate balance in motivation must be maintained, however, or we may supplant a greedy hoarding of wealth on earth with a selfish grasping for eternal profit.

Reward is not a godly motive for laying up treasures in Heaven.

Rather, we must give out of love for God and our gratitude for His love and sacrifice through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Having given with such love, what a joyous privilege it will be one day to lay our treasures before the feet of our wonderful Lord.

The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, "JESUS," which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Dr. Bright recently co-founded Global Pastors Network to "Touch, Teach and Train" a group of 5 million new house churches around the world 24/7/365 at http://www.globalpastorsnetwork.org.