Matthew 6:19-21 – Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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There are a lot of directions for this set of verses. Historically I’ve mainly heard it in sermons about money, financial wisdom from senior pastors who seem to have stewarded their checkbooks well. When I read this set of verses I think of one word: investment.

Now, let me tell you something. I have friends and a spouse who are really, really into investing in bitcoins and in other aspects of stocks. That is not me. Like, not even close. It goes so far over my head and not because I don’t reach 5 feet tall. Truly, when investment enters the conversation, I usually feel like the rabbit ears on my 1980s television have gone haywire and all of a sudden it’s just a bunch of white noise.

But the kind of investment Jesus is talking about is the kind that points our heart toward eternity.

You know what I just pictured? Me standing on the ground. (Maybe the solid ground I wrote about the other day?) I am looking up (remember I’m just under 5 feet tall, so I am always looking up!). There’s a ledge above me, kind of like an open-face barn loft.

That loft is heaven.

Every time I make a genuine connection with another human, friend or foe, down here on earth, I’m tossing a treasure up to that loft.
Every time I reach out and encourage a friend down here on earth, I’m tossing a treasure up to that loft.
Every time I make the very conscious choice to give something of myself, I’m tossing a treasure up to that loft.
Every time I remind myself that I am a child of God created in His image, I’m tossing a treasure up to that loft.
Every time I laugh with my child, I’m tossing a treasure up to that loft.
Every time I listen to my (very expressive) husband tell me about his day, I’m tossing a treasure up to that loft.

We so often think that the connections we make each day don’t matter. We’re just making chit-chat. We’re just thanking the cashier. We’re just nodding to the car who let us in that long line of traffic. We’re just texting a friend with a funny GIF. We’re just asking how are you today? because it’s second-nature. We’re just kissing them goodnight like every other night. Those moments matter so much. They are it. You are bringing heaven to earth when you invest in people, because people is why God did what he did. People is God’s love language.

People are why Jesus said what he said about not storing up treasures here on earth but rather storing treasures up in heaven. Some of us have big houses, some of us have small houses, some of us have a room. Some of us can travel the world, some of us have never been outside our hometown. Some of us are sitting comfortable in a bank account we’ve worked hard for; some of us have worked hard but things just haven’t worked out in the comfy-bank-account kind of way.

Still… the logistics don’t matter. The arrow of our hearts in the day-to-day, that is what matters. The people you encounter with kindness, grace, love, mercy, patience, discernment, peacemaking, and gentility — that is what matters.

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What’s your context for where to point the arrow of your heart? Where in your day-to-day can you toss a treasure up to that loft?

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