BiblicalInsights.net

     Jared Jackson (Fortify Your Faith News, Oct., 2010) asked, “What are you investing in?”  He then relates this story.  Connoisseurs of coffee listen up!  Coffee drinkers in Sacramento, CA sat down inside a swanky cafe and sipped a shot glass of hot espresso costing $22 per serving.  That’s twenty-two bucks for an ounce and a half of coffee! The rare imported coffee beans cost $300 a pound!  What makes this coffee so expensive?  It’s recycled from the droppings of a civet (a cat-like animal).  Yes, somewhere in Sumatra, they figured out that if they fed coffee beans to a civet, then processed the remains, they could convince Americans to pay enormous sums of money to drink the bizzare cup of joe.  They say its got an earthly tang to it. 
     Bizzare?  Yes, but many invest in frivolous pursuits that are  pure vanity.  Listen to Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
     Earthly possessions cannot satisfy.  Covetousness is the insatiable appetite for things.  Solomon pursued whatever his heart desired and still concluded that “all was vanity and vexation of spirit” (Eccl. 2:1-11). 
     Earthly possessions are uncertain.  They are fleeting, temporal and have no lasting value that is intrinsic to themselves.  It is vain to pursue that which is empty and meaningless.  “Lay not up for yourselves” is a phrase that reveals man’s natural selfishness is a source of constant danger to his soul.  Self-indulgence that seeks satifaction of the lusts of the flesh destroys the soul.
     “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” is a phrase that defines the pursuits of the soul that will count for eternity.  All that one gives or does for the kingdom of God will accrue to his eternal credit.  Jesus said, “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward” (Matt. 10:42).  Small things given with great love will accrue to our eternal credit.
     Invest in heaven!  Pursue the things of God and make them your own.  His promises and blessings enrich us now and for eternity.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also!  Don’t settle for the mundane when you can experience the magnificent things of God.