Weddings and Treasures

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

When I was fresh out of college, I worked in Nashville for a financial advisory firm. I had a friend who was getting married in Atlanta, and his uncle decided he needed a ride down to the wedding. I had met this uncle several times, but I’d never spent significant time around him. On the drive down, he spent most of the four-hour ride telling me about his new day trading strategy that was creating returns, the likes of which he could never have imagined. He talked a really good game. He seemed to have found the holy grail! I could literally feel his passion for the pursuit.

We arrived in Atlanta, played a round of golf, and then the uncle went for a run before a rehearsal dinner that never happened. The uncle had returned from the run and fallen over dead while cleaning up for the evening. The rehearsal dinner was cancelled.

It occurred to me that our conversation in the car might have been the last at length conversation that the uncle had in his life. I spent the next six weeks listening to his widow share about how he had left her with 800K in debt. She didn’t know where to turn or how she’d even be able to make it.

Todd Harper leads a movement called Generous Giving. He is quoted as saying, “People are the treasure, and we get it twisted when the treasure becomes the treasure.”

My new friend no doubt knew Jesus. He no doubt loved his family. He just had been in a season where things had become a little twisted. His treasure had become the treasure.

What does it look like to store up treasures in heaven if people are the treasure? Randy Alcorn, author of Heaven, says, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”

A memory from another wedding in Seattle comes to mind. A friend and I attended the wedding as groomsmen, and we both had the early flight out the next day. Up at zero dark thirty, we decided to grab a bite at Seattle’s finest: Denny’s. At that hour, Denny’s was full of customers who had been on the streets all night. We finished our meal and began walking back to the car. It was cold and rainy. Shocker, I know. As we walked across the parking lot, we passed by another man who was shivering. As soon as I saw him, I said, “Hey man, I hope you can get warm in there.” No sooner had the words started off my tongue than my friend had already taken off his coat and put it on the man’s back. Gulp. James’ words from the scripture flashed through my mind.

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and well fed”, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

James 2:15-16

Double gulp. I talked a good game. My friend walked a good game. He made that man the treasure, and he sent his treasure on ahead.

Sometimes we feel shame when we act in such a way that our use of our treasure fails to match where we’d like to think our hearts are. I certainly had the feeling. However, Jesus’ words to us in Matthew seem to me to be less of a condemnation and more of an invitation. He doesn’t say, “Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also.” Instead, he says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In other words, our wallet doesn’t always follow our heart, but we’re invited to watch our hearts follow our wallets. Jesus invites us to make people our treasure and watch our hearts grow as we send our treasures on ahead.

A third wedding comes to mind, and a dinner that is sure to happen. At the end of days, at the wedding supper of the Lamb, God will remind each one of us that he spent his days making us his treasure.

For we are a holy people to the Lord our God; The Lord our God has chosen us to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8

Written by Josh Suddath, Director of Donor Engagement at The Generosity Trust