2 Then Jesus began teaching the people. He said,
6 19 “Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them.20 Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. 21Your heart will be where your treasure is.
22 “The only source of light for the body is the eye. If you look at people and want to help them, you will be full of light.l 23 But if you look at people in a selfish way, you will be full of darkness.m And if the only light you have is really darkness, you have the worst kind of darkness.n
24 “You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one and love the other, or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Moneyo at the same time.”
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“You can take your spirit and you will leave your old body. You will get a new body in heaven.” Natalie, 9
“We can’t take anything to heaven with us because we won’t need anything in heaven besides what’s already there. God is there, and he is all that anyone needs. You won’t need CDs or RVs or any of the things that we use every day.” Emily, 12
“You can bring anything you want to bring in heaven as long as it’s small.” Katherine, 8
“I will take a loving heart to heaven.” Adam, 10
My friends said they wanted to take all kinds of things in their heaven-bound suitcases. But you know what? You really can’t take any stuff with you to heaven. All the things on earth that you wanted to keep so badly will have to stay here. But Jesus said if you want to be rich in heaven, give to the poor and follow him (Matthew 19:21).
Jesus told the people about this when he was on earth. He told them to stop trying to get more and more stuff that could wear out or be stolen. He warned them that they could not love money and love God at the same time. They had to choose one or the other. As Jesus said, we should focus on things that last forever. Those things we will find in heaven when we get there.
Jesus will pass out rewards to Christians who have been faithful to use what they had on earth for him. He said that even something as small as a cup of cool water given in his name will receive a reward.
The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language. In the second part of Matthew 6:22, our translation of the Bible reads: “If you look at people and want to help them, you will be full of light.” A more literal translation of the Greek would read this way: “If your eye is single, then your whole body will be full of light.” Why is this important?
The single eye is the eye focused on one thing. Yes, it is the good eye as well because it is not divided by looking at two things at the same time. God wants us to love him with a single heart or with all our heart. That is the first commandment. The Apostle James wrote that the double-minded person is like a wave being tossed around by the wind (James 1:5-8). That is the way we are when we have one eye on God’s kingdom and the other on stuff in this world that really doesn’t matter. God is not against toys and cool clothes. He wants us to love him.
We should not be afraid of trying something new at which we might fail. We should be afraid of succeeding at something that really doesn’t matter.
Think About This: We know we are valuable and loved because God sent his son to die for our sins. Nothing in this world is more valuable to God than his children.
Memorize This Truth: “Your heart will be where your treasure is” (Matthew 6:21).
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