Jesus was a great Teacher or Rabbi.
What was great about the teaching was the authority with which He taught as well as the content that challenged the followers.
After revealing some key aspects of what takes place in the secret life of saints on the basis of living with the matters of the heart, he now gets into the choices open to his followers.
Virtually the rest of what the Rabbi will explain to His students will be on the premise that living in the light of your identity now brings certain choices to you. The Rabbi helps with that by establishing clearly that those choices are also matters of the heart.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where 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. (Matthew 6:19-21)
Jesus’ issue isn’t so much what you treasure, it’s where you treasure. Although where you treasure will also determine what you treasure. The location of your treasure determines the content of the treasure and also what really matters to your heart.
It’s important not to get Jesus wrong, because readers of this might point to this as the reason why some saints appear to be so ‘heavenly minded they are of no earthly good’. What Jesus is talking about, however, is not a dissociation with what goes on in your regular life. On the contrary, His challenge is to get right down here, must require treasuring things from the location where the best and lasting rule can come from.
It would not make sense to make that which is temporary, rusting, corrupting and dying the basis of our heart’s treasures. It especially doesn’t make sense when there’s an option that promises everything that’s far better than that. Not just lasting, but life-giving, fruitful and incorruptible. That kind of source can have heaps of beneficial prospects for those who place what really matters there.
The Rabbi urges His followers to consider the choices that are now open to them. He is also very clear that the choice we make will determine who we really serve. So in as much as people can have their religious practices and rituals, what really counts will always be the choice they make for where they choose the location of what matters most in life.
Your time on earth can be richly informed by life from heaven – that can literally make the world of a difference – if you choose to place your treasures there.
Hey, the choice is up to you.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 