The Three Stages of Life

Matthew 6:19-21 Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is.

The irony of possessions is that they can very easily end up possessing you. The things given us by God for our benefit and enjoyment can, and often do, become the masters of our lives.

It’s been said that there are basically three stages to life. Wanting stuff, accumulating stuff, and getting rid of stuff. When you’re young you typically don’t have the means to buy the things you really want, so you long for them. I remember as a teenager longing for a transistor radio … one day.

Then, as you grow up, you set about acquiring the stuff you’ve always wanted and then some. This and that … so many possessions that some have to hire storage containers because they can’t fit them all into their homes.

And then in the final months of life, as I’ve just recently done for my elderly mother, you have to get rid of it all. She didn’t have a lot, but still, we had to hire a trailer to take most of it to the dump. I wonder, does that all make sense to you? Jesus …

Matthew 6:19-21 Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is.

Sure, it’s nice to have some things. They can be a real blessing. But when possessions end up possessing you, they become a curse beyond measure.

Don’t save treasures for yourself here on earth.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.