Friday: Further Thought ~ Laying Up Treasures in Heaven

Further Thought:

God honored His part of the covenant by blessing Abraham. And Abraham honored God by not storing up treasures on this earth. “The heritage that God has promised to His people is not in this world. Abraham had no possession in the earth, ‘no, not so much as to set his foot on.’ Acts 7:5.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

He possessed great substance, and he used it to the glory of God and the good of his fellow men; but he did not look upon this world as his home. The Lord had called him to leave his idolatrous countrymen, with the promise of the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession; yet neither he nor his son nor his son’s son received it. When Abraham desired a burial place for his dead, he had to buy it of the Canaanites. His sole possession in the Land of Promise was that rock-hewn tomb in the cave of Machpelah.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 169.

As we live our lives, we are sometimes tempted to go toward wealth and leisure. It takes strong faith to practice delayed gratification. “The magnificent palace of Pharaoh and the monarch’s throne were held out as an inducement to Moses; but he knew that the sinful pleasures that make men forget God were in its lordly courts. He looked beyond the gorgeous palace, beyond a monarch’s crown, to the high honors that will be bestowed on the saints of the Most High in a kingdom untainted by sin. He saw by faith an imperishable crown that the King of heaven would place on the brow of the overcomer. This faith led him to turn away from the lordly ones of earth and join the humble, poor, despised nation that had chosen to obey God rather than to serve sin.” — Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 246.

Discussion Questions:

What will happen to our possessions when Jesus comes? (See 2 Peter 3:10) In fact, what can happen to them even before Jesus comes? (See Matthew 6:20) Why, then is it always important to keep things in their proper perspective?
Jesus warned about “the deceitfulness of riches” (Mark 4:19). What is He talking about? How can riches deceive us?
In class, talk about the ways Moses might have justified staying in Egypt instead of leaving everything behind in order to flee with a bunch of slaves to a barren desert? What ultimately must have caused him to decide as he did?