April 7, 2024 - Treasures in Heaven

Deuteronomy 31:1-32:27

Luke 12:8-34

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 12:21-23

One Year Bible Audio & Daily Reading (oneyearbibleonline.com)

Deuteronomy 31:7Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Psalm 78:54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,

    to the hill country his right hand had taken.

55 He drove out nations before them

    and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;

    he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

Isn't it so cool that the Psalm for the last couple of days have complemented and paralleled Deuteronomy. Today God has brought Moses and the Israelites to "the border of his holy land". Moses is preparing himself, Jacob and the people for his death and for Jacob to succeed him as they go into the promised land. Moses said to Jacob that "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." And the Psalm tells us that God "drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance". Pretty neat!

Luke 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

What an important story to remember. If our focus in on storing things up for ourselves which I think includes our children and grandchildren then we miss out on the treasures that matter. The treasures that come from seeking to love God and love people. I am not saying that we should not have any possessions or leave and inheritance for our children and grandchildren. But Jesus tells us that if that is what is the MOST important things to us it won't matter how much we have and save. But if we live in a way that is "rich toward God" then our focus will be on Him and we will store up treasures in heaven and that is what matters. That is the inheritance we should strive to leave our children and grandchildren.