True Treasure
Matthew 5 and 6 records Jesus’ “sermon on the mount.” The theme of the sermon on the mount is treasure not material treasures upon earth but instead treasure spiritual treasures in heaven. Treasures on this earth will corrode and pass away but the eternal spiritual treasures in heaven will last into eternity. The question is, What do you value most? Earthly wisdom says to hoard earthly treasures because they have a short shelf life. Everything we own wears out and loses its value. However, God commands us to treasure treasures in heaven that will last forever. According to Corinthians, the things that are seen are temporal but the unseen things of the spirit are eternal. Therefore treasure treasures in heaven for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Men will follow their hearts into eternity. The treasures of this earth are dust to dust and ashes to ashes. That which is of this earth will be shaken and burned. However treasuring treasures of the spirit of life in Christ in us will last forever.
The greatest treasure is acquired by the power of prayer. Prayer is where the Christian life is lived. Ravenhill said we should learn to pray in “concentration camps.” For thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. It’s far easier to rest without an answer until we learn to believe God according to the power of prayer. Prayer is to believe God for the scriptures say, “whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing you shall receive.”
Worldly wisdom teaches us to believe and act on things of the world that we don’t understand. We routinely use our electronic devices to send and receive information without understanding the intricacies of e mail and data communications. Likewise, God doesn’t ask us to understand how prayer works, he simply requires that we act on prayer by believing action according to his Word.
Acts 6:24 says “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” You can’t serve both the material things of this world and the spiritual things of life in Christ. Ye are servants to whom you obey.
The beatitudes beginning in Matthew 5:3 give the requirements for those blessed of God. These blessed attitudes are cultivated by maintaining communication with God in prayer. Prayer connects our heart with God’s heart. Prayer is aligning our heart with our Father’s heart. Prayer is “delighting ourselves in the Lord.” When our delight is His delight, then he will give us the desires of our heart.
James says that ye have not when you pray because you ask amiss, that you might consume it upon your lust. Lust means “over desire.” Lust is anything that you treasure above God. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Prayer is communication with our Father. Communication is co-Union when we unify his purpose with our purpose, his value with our value, and his heart with our heart. Therefore pray in secret so that God can hear your heart’s desire for a relationship in proximity with him. “Perfect prayer” is the manifestation of the spirit of Christ in us. For the spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are sons of God. For in our flesh we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the spirt makes intercession for us with groanings that we cannot express in the language of our own human frailty.
Jesus didn’t teach his disciples how to preach. He taught them how to pray. The “Lord’s Prayer” is part of Jesus’ “sermon on the mount” in Matthew 6:9-13. Most people think that prayer is asking God to bless us. However the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples emphasizes that we should bless God: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed (holy, sanctified, set apart for your purpose) be thy name.” The first of the Ten Commandments literally says, “thou shalt have no other gods between your face and my face.” Therefore, treasure treasures in heaven. Our true treasure is our Heavenly Father himself.
From the lyrics of “Be Thou my Vision,” may our prayer be:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art Thou my best Thought, by day or by night Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord Thou my great Father, I Thy true son Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise Thou mine Inheritance, now and always Thou and Thou only, first in my heart High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
Amen.
May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael