our daily bread

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Dexu Xia

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May 29, 2018, 2:12:18 AM5/29/18

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Treasure in Heaven

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

When I was growing up, my two sisters and I liked to sit side-by-side on top of my mother’s large cedar-lined chest. My mom kept our wool sweaters in it and handiwork that was embroidered or crocheted by my grandmother. She valued the contents of the chest and relied on the pungent odor of the cedar wood to discourage moths from destroying what was inside.

Most earthly possessions can easily be destroyed by insects or rust, or can even be stolen. Matthew 6 encourages us to place a special focus—not on things that have a limited lifespan but on those that have eternal value. When my mom died at fifty-seven, she had not accumulated a lot of earthly possessions, but I like to think about the treasure she stored up in heaven (vv. 19–20).

Dear Father, help me to choose to invest my life in things that are eternal.

I recall how much she loved God and served Him in quiet ways: caring faithfully for her family, teaching children in Sunday school, befriending a woman abandoned by her husband, comforting a young mother who had lost her baby. And she prayed. . . . Even after she lost her sight and became confined to a wheelchair, she continued to love and pray for others.

Our real treasure isn’t measured in what we accumulate—but in what or whom we invest our time and our passions. What “treasures” are we storing up in heaven by serving and following Jesus?

Dear Father, help me to choose to invest my life in things that are eternal.

Our real wealth is what we invest for eternity.

天上的财宝

因为你的财宝在哪里，你的心也在那里。-马太福音6章21节

小时候，我们姐妹三人喜欢肩并肩坐在母亲的大型杉木箱上。木箱里面收藏了我们的羊毛衫，以及祖母刺绣或编织的手工艺品。我母亲珍惜木箱里的物品，所以她以杉木刺鼻的气味，防止小虫损坏木箱里的这些物品。

地上的财宝大多易遭虫蛀或生锈腐蚀，甚或遭盗贼偷窃。马太福音6章鼓励我们，不要注重有限、短暂的资财，乃要看重具有永恒价值的事物。当母亲57岁离世时，虽然并未在这世上累积丰厚的财富，但我想她必定在天上积存了珍宝（19-20节）。

我记得母亲非常爱主，总是默默地服事主：在家庭中克尽其职；在主日学教导孩童；帮助一位被丈夫遗弃的妇女；安慰一位失去幼儿的年轻母亲。母亲恒切祷告……即使她后来双目失明，必须以轮椅代步，她仍继续爱人、为人代祷。

我们真正的财宝并不在于积存了多少资财，乃在于如何投资我们的时间和心力。你我藉由服事、跟随耶稣，将积存哪些“财宝”在天上呢？

亲爱的天父啊，求祢帮助我，
将一生都投注于永恒的事物当中。