Each one of us is on a journey to our final, and eternal, destination.  As Christians, we live with the confident assurance that our eternal home is with God.  But, we’re not home yet and there is a life to be lived as we journey toward heaven.  It is my prayer that this series of devotions will help you discover not only a glimpse of heaven, but that it would prepare you to more fully live like you are home even as you continue the journey.

This is day twenty-eight from the devotional journal, “Almost Heaven: Devotions For the Journey Home”.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God in the process of discovering how He would have us to live as we prepare for an eternal home.

Almost Heaven:
A Home Filled With Treasure

“‘All these I have kept since I was a boy,’ he said.  When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’  When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.“
Luke 18:21-23 (NIV)

What do you value most in this life?  What do you think the people closest to you would say you value most?  Why?  What would you do to get the thing you treasure most?  Is there anything that you wouldn’t give up?  What does that say about what you really treasure?  Have you ever saved up an amount of time and/or money in order to do something special?  How did you feel about putting aside immediate desires in order to experience a treasured moment later?  Was it worth it?

Many people save up money in order to have or do something at a later time.  Typically our perceived value of what we’re looking forward to will influence our seriousness in saving up for whatever it is.  When God talks about heaven being a home with treasure, He does so as a reminder of the value it should have to us.  When we view eternity with God to be the greatest treasure that could ever be obtained, it motivates us to loosen our grip on the stuff of this world that we are tempted to call treasures.  As you pray, ask God to help you pursue a home with Him as the greatest treasure you could find.  Pray that you would invest all you have in obtaining that treasure.

In prayer,

Tom