If We Must Reign...

 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being” Matthew 6:19-21.

Yesterday I watched a sermon on www.idisciple.org, an on-line Christian website that personalizes and delivers daily spiritual content from over 200 authors & speakers.  During the sermon the pastor told a story I loved that reminded me of our passage this morning.  I will paraphrase this story for you, confident that you will be blessed.

There was a kingdom where the law only allowed the chosen king to serve for one year.  At the end of the year the king was sent off to spend the rest of his days on an island to protect the new king.  This king was more clever than any other king, because from the day he was crowned he began transferring resources over to the island where he would eventually live.  By the time the king was called to that island he had set up a wonderful life.  This king could have sat on the throne for his year, and enjoyed anything he wanted, but chose to forego the present short-term comforts.  He had every right as king to demand this or pursue that, but his eyes were on the distant island.  He understood that to sacrifice things during his temporary reign would mean to receive things in his final home.

We live in an earthly kingdom that beckons our selfishness…demands our attention…and lures us to hang tightly onto things we have.  We build our little kingdoms and crown ourselves as kings gathering…hoarding…protecting.  On earth we stockpile our time and our resources, withholding our mercies and compassions.  We all tend to be hoarders of something because we are pursuers of so much down here.  When we are asked to deny ourselves and follow Christ it is to live in the future fullness of God.  Our Father wants us to invest in another kingdom, a lasting kingdom and a kingdom where the streets are paved with significance.  His goal is to transfer every one of us from the kingdom we create to the kingdom He created. 

So if we must reign, let us reign with a focus on our future island, an island where our final dwelling place will be full of rewards and blessings.  God never created us to hoard the things of this world but to walk this journey with our arms empty and our hearts full.