True Treasure

"'Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come follow me.' But when the man heard this, he became very sad, for he was very rich."..."Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, 'I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!'" Luke 18:18-25; Luke 19:1-10


It was more than a little hard to watch. The man was truly broken up. On the show, people bring all these different items to the pawn shop to sell looking to get a few bucks out of their "treasure". Sometimes, they do. Other times, like this one, not so much. The man had paid a great deal of money for this autographed whatever with papers of authenticity and everything. He was shocked to discover the whole thing was forgery. His treasure was worth absolutely nothing.

In the stories for today, Jesus ran into two wealthy men. One of them came looking for eternal life or more accurately to be affirmed in his own self-righteousness. He appears to be genuinely restless in his spirit. Jesus quickly led him to the real problem. He loved his money and wouldn't give it up. The second one came looking for Jesus. He was not going to be denied. "Just a glimpse" he must have thought as he climbed the tree. In being recognized and welcomed by Jesus, he couldn't give his money away fast enough.

We all have treasures. Our hearts have an established, "I will never part with this!" What's yours? Chances are there's more than one in there, isn't there? Zacchaeus made a quick but accurate calculation. Money and all it provided was absolutely nothing compared to knowing and loving Jesus. Typically, our hearts lean towards that we are trusting in for security and significance. Is there honestly anything more secure than an eternal relationship with Jesus? Is there truly anything more significant than being a child of God?

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