A Treasure of the Heart ~Or Where your Heart is…

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  Where would you find a treasure of the heart?

I read a story once, of a rich man whom everybody knew to be very charitable. His name was on plaques all over the city recognizing him as founder or supporter. He was very well known and every one knew of his good deeds.

This man had a friend who was a doctor. This friend of his was also very charitable and helped many, many poor people and never charged them a penny. The doctor would give all he had towards his patients. But unlike the first man, no one knew about the doctor and all the good he did. He just quietly went through his day-to-day life serving the poor and needy.

On one particular night the rich man had a dream:

He had died; and he, his friend and many others were walking along golden streets with an angel. The angel explained that all their good deeds done on earth had been sent to heaven and the angels had taken those good deeds and built them homes in heaven.

They come to huge beautiful mansions first, and the biggest most beautiful home belonged to the doctor.  The rich man knew that he would have a beautiful home just like that because of all the good he had done on earth. Soon though, they were leaving the mansions, and there were smaller homes, more people were shown their homes and the group grew smaller.

As the group grew smaller, so did the heavenly homes. Soon only the rich man was left. He just couldn’t wait, he knew that because of all the good he did; his mansion was sure to be better than all of them combined.

Then they come to the middle of a field full of flowers, and there was the most pathetic excuse of a house one ever saw. In fact, it hardly looked like a house at all. Instead it looked like a child’s play fort, just made of scraps and leftover pieces of this and that.

This, said the angel, is your home. The rich man gaped in disbelief.

“Wait!” he cried, “do you not know who I am?”

The angel nodded, “I know who you are.”

“Then where is my mansion, for I have done many great deeds while on earth”

The angel replied: “While on earth, you did indeed do many good deeds, and you always received much recognition for them. Would you wish to be rewarded twice?”

It’s a very sobering thought. What is a treasure of the heart? Being seen as some-one who is making a big difference for God, or just quietly going through life, serving our Lord and master?

The story above is one of the things God used to show me that a mission didn’t always have to be “grand and glorious“.  Sometimes the best mission is creating a treasure of the heart in heaven.

Jesus, on a treasure of the heart in Matthew 6:

16. When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face:

18. That thou appear not to fast, bunt unto thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…..

21. For where your treasure is, their will your heart be also.

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