Storing true treasures

I spent a good part of last week hauling items from an estate for auction. The daughter called me late the week before and asked me to check out her late mother's belongings. She wanted to get the personal items out of the house so she could list it with a realtor. The first thing I saw when I arrived was a large dumpster in front of the house already full. I went through the house and shed and took the items that will sell at auction. They will probably have another full dumpster for the items I didn't take.

Every time I sell an estate at auction I am reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 6: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

We spend a lifetime accumulating things that are all left behind when our lives end. Often our families are overwhelmed with the responsibility of disposing of it. I've written previously about how our children often do not want any of the things we've collected. Probably over half of the things I sell at auction came to me from people who offered them first to their children only to learn they were not interested in Grandma's china or anything else their parents had accumulated. Dumpsters are often brought in and filled to overflowing with the things we couldn't part with during our lifetimes. The other things are either sold in yard sales or an auctioneer is called in to dispose of the estate.  In either case, our treasures are bought by strangers at the least cost to them or they find their way into a dumpster. At that point our treasures become just "stuff" someone needs to get rid of.

For some reason, last week made me a little philosophical as I began thinking about my own "stuff" that someone will have to deal with at my passing. Like most people, I have a lot of "stuff" that my kids will not want. I sometimes talk about getting rid of some of it, but like a lot of people I think I might still need it sometime. (I probably won't.)

Holding on to "stuff" rather than laying up true treasures in heaven is a common problem. We fill up our basements, attics, garages and then rent storage units to store the rest of the things we accumulate. At the same time, we hardly ever consider what constitutes true treasures.

The last sentence in the above verse is one that should give up pause. Where our treasure is, there your heart will be also. That is a very sobering statement. Our true hearts are revealed if we focus our attention on our "stuff" rather than on the things of God. We can say all the right things, but our hearts are revealed by the treasures we hold onto most tightly.