Where Is Your Treasure?

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:1, 2.
How precious is the knowledge that we have a faithful Friend, One who will impart to us a noble, elevated character that will fit us for the companionship of the heavenly angels in the courts above! His guardianship is over all His children. They have a peace that the world can neither give nor take away. The loss of earthly treasures does not make them hopeless or homeless….
Christ beholds the world, full of activity in seeking for earthly treasures. He sees many eagerly trying first one thing and then another in their efforts to obtain the coveted earthly treasure, which they think will satisfy their selfish greed, while in their eager pursuit they pass by the only path that leads to the true riches.
As One having authority Christ speaks to such ones, inviting them to follow Him. He offers to lead them to the riches that are as enduring as eternity. He points them to the narrow path of self-denial and sacrifice. Those who press on in this path, surmounting every obstacle, will reach the land of glory. In lifting the cross they find that the cross lifts them, and they will at last gain the imperishable treasure.
Many think to find security in earthly riches. But Christ seeks to remove from their eye the mote that obscures the vision, and thus enable them to behold the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. They are mistaking phantoms for realities, and have lost sight of the glories of the eternal world. Christ calls upon them to extend their view beyond the present and add eternity to their vision.—Letter 264, December 7, 1903, to a businessman of some means, 1-6.
There is no place on earth where treasure is secure from loss. But there is a city that has foundations, whose builder and whose Maker is God. Christ seeks to draw the attention away from unwise investments in perishable riches, warning men to lay up their treasures in heaven.—Ibid., 8.
Those who have lavished their affection on earthly treasures without regard to the heavenly riches will soon receive their reward. They will lose the earthly treasures to obtain [that for] which they have sold their souls to Satan….
Will those who have not yet fully yielded themselves to the great rebel now come over to the Lord’s side? Will they, before it is everlastingly too late, leave the works of wickedness and stand under the bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel?—Ibid.,
The Upward Look p. 355
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for little Charlie who has an aggressive form of cancer. Tom
—-Please continue to pray for my Pastor. He is on a respirator and is still very sick. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and healing for his body. Pray for comfort and peace for his wife, Judy, and daughters, Jenna and Erin. B
—-Please pray for Lainey and Levi who drowned and were brought back. Lainey is recovering nicely but Levi is having difficulty. Kay
—-This is an update on my Grandmother Linda. She passed away this this morning. If you all could keep Jim, her husband in your prayers as she was his wife, best friend and gift from God. Brieanna
—-Please pray for Esther as she has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. Rose
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Dear Friends,
One Christmas morning some years ago, I decided that I would not spend hours cooking but make everything quick and easy. About an hour before we would be ready to eat, I put sweet potatoes in the oven, put the dressing from a mix I’d bought a few days before, and other things beside them a little later, and walked into the pantry to get the items for the pie. I had decided against pumpkin and opted for canned peach pie filling. To my horror, there were no graham cracker pie crusts on the shelf. Then I remembered. I had used them the week before when we were having company. It was too late to make a regular pie shell as the rest of the dinner was almost ready. Spying the Ritz crackers, I remembered how my grandmother used to make a Ritz cracker crust when she baked apple pies. Relieved that my problem was solved, I grabbed a glass pie pan and crumbled up a tube of Ritz crackers. When I had the proper ingredients mixed together and pressed in the pan, I poured the peach filling on top and stuck it in the microwave.
I thought it smelled a little strange while heating in the microwave. To my distress, I discovered the reason. Looking a little more carefully at the package of crackers, I found that I had used roasted vegetable crackers. So I had made a peach pie whose crust was flavored with a vegetable blend of carrots, onions, cabbage, tomato, parsley, and red and green bell peppers. —-not exactly tasty.
Those crackers had looked just like the regular ones but how different the result. Jesus told a parable about Christians who look like good ones but are as unfit for Heaven as those crackers were for my pie. “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Matt 13:24-30
How many times there are contentions within the church because of these look-alike Christians. Indeed, many of these do not even know that they are false followers. Jesus warns, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt 7:15-23
How often false doctrines creep in because of these tares which the enemy has sewed. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Col 2:8 How can we discern truth from falsehood? “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa 8:20 ” If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. . . . He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.” John 7:17, 18 Only by a study of God’s Holy Word can we discern truth from error, false teachers from those who speak the truth.
May we “study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman who maketh not ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” 2 Tim 2:15 May we never try to root up the tares that the enemy has sown amongst the wheat but leave that to the Master Who judges with true judgment. May we make sure that we, ourselves, are wheat and not tares is my prayer.
Rose