In this day when most people are more concerned about self than they are about others, Joe Gibbs offers an interesting perspective on how we ought to relate to others. He writes:
The Bible says to “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:20). Which means what exactly?
We understand the part about not storing up “treasures on earth” (verse 19). We get it that we can’t take our stuff with us into eternity. We never see a hearse pulling a moving van. We know that. But “treasures in heaven.” What are those? And how do they become part of our life’s purpose?
Every person you know or meet is an eternal being. Some, by God’s grace and their faith in his son, Jesus Christ, will live with him forever. Some won’t. But because each of us has an eternal soul, one way to store up “treasures in heaven” is by investing your life in other people—in your wife, your children, your work associates and employees, your neighbors, your friends, even people who cross your path in seemingly random fashion. We’re not to regard them anymore “from a worldly point of view,”—. We’re to see them as a teller window for depositing our time, our attention, our concern, even just a kind “hello” made with deliberate eye contact.
Not every heavenly investment is transacted at church or in some other so-called spiritual setting. Just about anywhere you go, there’s a branch near you.—
God, help me to spend more time noticing the people around me and their needs—and less time focused on simply knocking out agenda items and daily objectives. I want my treasures in heaven, not here.
