What do you treasure?

Matthew 6:19-21

Eternal God,

You created time for my protection and enjoyment.  You placed me in this time bound world with the command that I prepare for eternity.  You teach me that eternity holds one of two destinations for me and every soul who will ever live and die.  Those You declare as righteous will be welcomed into their eternal reward with You in heaven.  Those who have insisted upon sinfully living for themselves, ignoring eternity, will be judged as guilty before Your bar of justice and consigned to a lost eternity, separated from You.

I want to live for something greater than time.  I want to live for You with my eyes fixed upon eternity.  You demand that such a life be lived with eternal values.  My attention must not be fixed upon the material, the sensual, the fleeting.  You demand that I fix my attention on You.

Fads and fashion dominate the landscape of advertising in my world. I find myself seduced by the new, the popular, the seasonal fashion.  I demand the new computer, car, cell phone, gadget, and garment.  Seduced by the temporal, my life will be lived for what I see, smell, taste, hear, and touch–sensuality. Someone once told me that “Everything is on the road to the junk heap.”  Draw my heart away from these things.  Draw me into Your heart, Eternal God.

Lord Jesus, You teach me that fashions fade and deteriorate.  The new garment is stored away for the perfect occasion, only to emerge moth-eaten and ruined.  My hoarded stockpile of goods may be eaten away from within and destroyed, like vermin invading a granary.  My flimsy walls, erected to protect my collection of money and stuff can easily be dug through.  The thieves can dig through physical walls or electronic fire walls, steal my identity and my possessions along with it.

Thank you for warning me against the rampant pursuit of pleasure.  I hear your call to treasure the timeless, those things of eternal worth, and to reject my hoarding instincts of the temporal.  I choose to value those things which You value: relationships, the eternal worth of my own soul, and the worth of another’s.  “The only thing which a man can take out of this world into the world beyond is himself; and the finer the self he brings, the greater his treasure in heaven will be” (William Barclay from The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, p. 244).  I give my greatest treasure to You.  Perfect Your likeness in me.

In the Name of my Eternal God,
Amen.