Mathew 6:19: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal
It’s hard to identify our treasures, for we love many things, but of course, nothing more than God. That’s the desire of our hearts. The desire is to love God over all else. However, so many things can distract us from this devotion. It is easy to slip into a life of complacency, where our focus becomes those things that eternally have zero value, but here in mortality feel like everything. What does it mean to “treasure up”? As I think of treasures, I think of the movie “National Treasure”. It gives a descriptive example of what it looks like to seek treasure. Benjamin, the main character’s family, for generations, had spent every penny, every minute desperately seeking for lost treasure. They had full faith in its existence, even though many didn’t believe them. They fought the persecution of unbelievers, even their own family members. Benjamin’s own father had let discouragement fill him with doubt, and he lost the vision of the treasure, and joined the others in ridicule. Nothing could shake Nicholas’s faith in the treasure. He devoted his life to its pursuit. It was his focus, everything else was secondary to the determination he had to find the treasure. There were others seeking to find the treasure, for evil reasons, he worked tirelessly to keep the treasures our of the hands of the enemy. In the end, the key to the treasure was on the back of the Declaration of Independence. After years of diligent study and work, he found the treasure, which was centuries of ancient artifacts. Even though there was extreme wealth in this treasure, his desire was to unselfishly share it with everyone, by donating it to history museum. He found complete peace and joy in his life-long pursuit of the national treasure.
What is your treasure? What do you pursue with all your heart, mind, and strength? When the commotion of life gives you a minute of calm, what do you do? What do you seek? Where are your thoughts first thing in the morning and last thing at night? Are you desperately seeking Christ?
2 Nephi 25:26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ
As we make the Lord our most precious treasure, all the other hings that are precious and eternally important will fall into place. As we put Him first; He will put us first. His promises are never ending to those who follow his plea to “Come follow me!” Here’s just a few: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” “they shall be comforted,” “they shall inherit the earth”, “for they shall be filled.”, “they shall obtain mercy”, “they shall see God”, “they shall be called the children of God”, “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, “great is your reward in heaven.” (Mathew 5: 3-12) The treasures of heaven are real, regardless of what the nay-sayers claim. God cannot lie–everything that he has told us in the scriptures will come to pass, even if generations pass by, and many ridicule the idea. Never lose your focus. The scriptures are the treasure map. They have been preserved by the hand of the Lord, for a “wise purpose”. We are that “wise purpose”. Think of it, the map (scriptures) were specifically put together by the council of the Lord, for us! It’s possibly the greatest miracle. If we truly seek the Lord, then we will follow the maps he has reserved for us. We will read and re-read the scriptures. We would accompany that reading with sincere heartfelt prayer and listen for a response from the Holy Ghost, who is our personal connection to heaven. Then, we will persistently follow the promptings we receive from our prayers and study. They will guide us perfectly to the heart of the map, eternal life. When we follow the Lord, we cannot fail. He will not mislead us.
“We start by treasuring up His word so its power is within us.” (1John 2:14, Alma 17:2, Alma 26:13, Alma 32:42)
Don’t get discouraged if along the journey to the treasure you bump into devils who will do everything in their power to overthrow your quest. Fear not! The Lord will be with you, and with God nothing is impossible, especially fighting Satan’s team.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
The greatest part of the treasure is it’s not a treasure that you have to bury out of fear that others will obtain it. It’s the kind of treasure you will want to share with all those you love, and all those you bump into. It is the kind of treasure that has no end. Once you obtain it, hold it dear to your heart, and work fervently to grow in your understanding and knowledge. Knowledge is eternal–it’s an additional treasure that we can take with us. The Lord has so much to teach us, we need to be seeking to obtain this knowledge. Through the scriptures and the guidance of the Holy Ghost there is endless tutoring to be done.
“Our desire to share the gospel takes all of us to our knees, and it should, because we need the Lord’s help.” -Neil L. Andersen
-Sherri Jorgensen
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