Hebrews 10:32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. (NKJV)
This verse caught my eye this morning. Wow! These Hebrew disciples that the writer was addressing knew something many of us need to know. They were so touched by God's love, so enamoured with Him that they actually joyfully allowed their goods to be plundered!
Putting it into today's context, how would you feel if someone came into your home and took your flat-screen TV, your iPhone and a bunch of your gizmos? Well, if you were like them, you would be so focused on the eternal things, things that have eternal value, that you'd be joyful. Here, take, go enjoy yourselves!
Yes, some gizmos are useful and some things we do are fun. However, as I move on with the Lord, more and more I am driven to measure how I spend my time and money against my eternal goals.
Jesus said:
Matthew 6: 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NKJV)
Everything we do here will one day come to an end. I don't want to have lived my whole life to find that my treasures are all here on earth, my best memories linked only to fun in the here-and-now. Like the Hebrew believers, I am challenged to gear my life so that only the things that matter in eternity have any priority on my money or time.
If it adds to my treasure in heaven, my heart will be there.
The part that really challenges me is not so much what they did, but why they willingly did it. Their revelation of God's immense, unwavering love for them, their supreme conviction that God through His Son Jesus had purchased such an eternity of joy, that nothing they owned here on earth really mattered that much anymore.
Like I wrote in my earlier article Extreme Love and The Power of Just Showing Up, because of Jesus' finished work on the cross, the way is open for all of us to so readily enter into this eternal joy, that God's love for us is so unbelievably great (that's what "Gospel" means, "news almost too good to be true"), that it overtakes, completely overwhelms, our lives.
Paul said:
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (NKJV)
Yup. I have died and my life is hidden in Christ. In all His richness and glory. Saved to the uttermost. Loved like no other.
Because He first loved me, I want to live my life for Him, for the eternal. I, too can love. And the best part? I get rewarded greatly for this, too!
May you be blessed by this thought.
