In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave fine counsel on living a balanced, simple life. He said: “Stop storing up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal.” Jesus used the word “stop” because people usually just keep on “storing up” material things for themselves. But a person who becomes Jesus’ disciple cannot be doing this anymore. His life must have a different purpose, as shown by Jesus’ follow-up command: “Rather, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Giving the reason why this change of purpose is needed, Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”—Matthew 6:19-21.
Your treasure is what you consider truly important. Are material possessions your treasure? Or is it the sanctification of Jehovah God’s name and his promised reward? To spend your life storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth, you must be thoroughly convinced of the Kingdom’s reality. The new world must be so real to you that you can see it in your mind’s eye and see yourself there working toward the accomplishment of Jehovah’s purposes for the earth. Like Moses, you must ‘see the One who is invisible’ and be firmly convinced that ‘he will reward those earnestly seeking him.’—Hebrews 11:6, 27.
But what if your heart, which includes your desires and affections, is set on material treasures? The Bible says: “The love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.” Pursuing material things that money can buy simply does not provide true and lasting satisfaction. (1 Timothy 6:10; Ecclesiastes 5:10) But most tragic of all, love of money and material things will damage your relationship with God, who expects us to serve him with “a complete heart.”—1 Chronicles 28:9.
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