Better than Money Bags

"Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. ³⁴  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Luke 12:33-34

Jesus often emphasised the wisdom of investing in the kingdom of God rather than living for self.  Everything a person acquires will be passed to someone else or be lost, stolen, broken, ruined, or forgotten.  There is no life found in the accumulation of money or stuff:  real abundant life can only be discovered through faith and obedience to Jesus who is our life.  Christians store up treasure in heaven when we choose to obey God and walk according to His Word and will.  Even a cup of cold water given in His name is cause for God to set aside an eternal reward for the cheerful giver.  The part of the passage which especially spoke to me this time was the exhortation to "provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail."

In ancient times people carried their money in bags made for this purpose, whether made of leather or fabric.  What is implied from the statement of Jesus is those bags (like wallets or purses commonly used today) eventually wore out.  The money people carried was not light-weight paper or plastic, but was typically in the form of coins or crudely fashioned pieces of gold or silver which had weight to them.  Can you imagine carefully stowing a money bag which represented all your monetary wealth in the world on a beast of burden, only to discover days later the contents of the bag had dropped out along the way because the bag had grown old and tore?  What a dreadful discovery that would be!  It would be a terrible, sinking feeling to know all you had worked for could not be recovered.

Jesus taught money and things of this earth decay and can be lost and stolen, but the eternal inheritance and wealth provided by the grace of God for His faithful servants endures forever.  No mothballs are needed to prevent damage in heaven, no elaborate security system is required:  our future is safe in God's hands.  Verse 34 provides insight so we might know when our hearts are set on temporal things.  If it is dreadfully painful for us to lose money, to see a deep scratch in our new car, or are bitter when we are overlooked for a work promotion, it may very well be we are setting our affections on things of this earth and not in heaven.  When we treasure something, that is where our affections lie.

IF we truly place our affections on things above and not on things of the earth, we will treasure the presence of God and His Word.  We will delight to come into His presence with singing and prayer and rejoice to heed the voice of our Saviour, offering ourselves and all we possess as a living sacrifice.  We will not even count our own lives precious to ourselves, for we have been purchased with the precious blood of our LORD and King.  We have been forgiven so we forgive; we have been graced with an everlasting love so we love God and others.  In this world one often needs to have money to make money, but Jesus gives us something money cannot buy:  eternal life and a glorious future in heaven.  Knowing we are therefore rich, let us love freely, give generously, and obey wholeheartedly.  Money bags on earth grow old and fail, but the love of God never fails.