Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“What are these?” my friend Mike asked me.
“Oh!” I said. “That’s my key chain collection.”
I come from a long line of packrats and collectors. My dad has shelves and shelves of science fiction books. He also can’t bring himself to get rid of old paint cans in our garage. Let me be clear… There is nothing wrong with collecting things, but my room had gotten to a point where all of my collections were just clutter. I had a keychain collection, a movie ticket stub collection, baseball cards, comic books, action figures and many other piles of stuff that I felt had significance. I had collected a lot of things, and now my friend was making it his business to help me get rid of some of my prized possessions.
As he held a random ball of key chains in his hand, I proceeded to tell him why each one was important. Most of the key chains had been purchased with large quantities of tickets, won mostly through skeeball, at Chuck E. Cheese’s. In my mind I was going to use that key chains once I was old enough to drive and wealthy enough to buy a car. With one defiant movement, my friend Mike threw the entire ball of key chains into the trash.
At the time, it was very hard for me to let go of those plastic trophies. I had won them with my natural ability to roll wooden balls up a ramp and into circular goals. They were tokens of my success. They were also junk.
How often do we hold on to things in our lives that we feel are so important only to realize that they are basically worthless? We hold on the idea that stuff will make us happy. We hold on to hurt and offense that someone has caused us. We even hold on to disappointment or anger in life and direct those feelings at God. These things have no real value in our lives. They are like a ball of key chains we are holding on to. They are cluttering up the landscape of our soul.
Are there things in your life you are holding on to?
Matthew 6:21 says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
What are the things that you feel are treasures in your life that you are storing up?
What do you need to let go of?
Day 3 of 6 from the 2014 Mission Discovery Devotional
