Lord, Help Us Keep Our Treasures In Heaven.

 Job- I've heard his name more lately than I like. When we think of Job we think of the undeserved suffering he experienced as Satan did his worst against him. When things happen to us, not little things, not a few things, but a lot of big, awful things Job comes to mind. Job wasn't a sinless man, no human being is, but Job was complete in God. By complete I mean, Job was a man of God, he was upright, morally sound. We know Job sinned, he asks for forgiveness… 

Job 42:6  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. 

You repent when you've sinned. Job was God's, Job lived for God. God could use Job as an example of a man who loved Him, and lived for Him. Satan believed the only reason Job could love God was because God had given him so many good things. God favored Job and Satan challenged that the only reason Job loved God so deeply was because of those things he received at God's hand. We know all about Job. We know that Satan was allowed to do his worst against him just shy of taking Job's life and still, Job held fast to God- but not perfectly, not sinlessly. 

When our lives are filled with horrors and we love God, we know that none of those horrors will take God's love from us. We aren't being punished by God, God doesn't hate us. Satan would have us believe that, but it's not true. Tested, refined, but not punished.

So maybe it's good to consider Job's life as the problems of our own accumulate and threaten us with despair. God loved Job, God loves us and nothing will stop that love as long as we love Him and put our faith wholly in Him, our God, our Savior, our Lord forever! We live for heaven's reward in Christ, not for any of this world's cherished treasures. We can only hope that no matter what our lives are or become that we hold fast to the love of Christ above it all. Some might say it's easy to say these things but much harder to believe them as life's problems crush us and they're right- it is easy to say them, harder to believe because Satan wants us to despair and come to hate God. Heaven is where our treasure is, our real treasure and Satan can never take that from us. In all the evil Satan can unleash upon us, He cannot take our Heavenly Treasure, not ever! Please, Lord, please, help us to keep our TREASURES in HEAVEN where they belong. Please, keep us from evil, keep us from despair. All in the name of our LORD, our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! Now and forever!!!!!!! Amen!

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Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, 

Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.  

Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 

Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 

Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. 

Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 

Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 

Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? 

Job 40:9  Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? 

Job 40:10  Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. 

Job 40:11  Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. 

Job 40:12  Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. 

Job 40:13  Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. 

Job 40:14  Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. 

Job 40:15  Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. 

Job 40:16  Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. 

Job 40:17  He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. 

Job 40:18  His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. 

Job 40:19  He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. 

Job 40:20  Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. 

Job 40:21  He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. 

Job 40:22  The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. 

Job 40:23  Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. 

Job 40:24  He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares. 

Job 41:1  Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? 

Job 41:2  Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? 

Job 41:3  Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? 

Job 41:4  Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? 

Job 41:5  Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? 

Job 41:6  Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? 

Job 41:7  Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? 

Job 41:8  Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. 

Job 41:9  Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? 

Job 41:10  None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me? 

Job 41:11  Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. 

Job 41:12  I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. 

Job 41:13  Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? 

Job 41:14  Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. 

Job 41:15  His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. 

Job 41:16  One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. 

Job 41:17  They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. 

Job 41:18  By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. 

Job 41:19  Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. 

Job 41:20  Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. 

Job 41:21  His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. 

Job 41:22  In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. 

Job 41:23  The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. 

Job 41:24  His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. 

Job 41:25  When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. 

Job 41:26  The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. 

Job 41:27  He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. 

Job 41:28  The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. 

Job 41:29  Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. 

Job 41:30  Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. 

Job 41:31  He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. 

Job 41:32  He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. 

Job 41:33  Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. 

Job 41:34  He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride. 

Job 42:1  Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 

Job 42:2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 

Job 42:3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. 

Job 42:4  Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 

Job 42:5  I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 

Job 42:6  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. 

Job 42:7  And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. 

Job 42:8  Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. 

Job 42:9  So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job. 

Job 42:10  And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 

Job 42:11  Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. 

Job 42:12  So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 

Job 42:13  He had also seven sons and three daughters. 

Job 42:14  And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. 

Job 42:15  And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. 

Job 42:16  After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. 

Job 42:17  So Job died, being old and full of days. 

Treasures of Earth, Treasures of Heaven.

When I was a child the anticipation of Christmas was palpable. Everything changed right after Thanksgiving. Decorations came out of the closets that had been stored away for ten and a half months and things just seemed a bit more exciting than they had even the day before.

Christmas was coming! To me Christmas meant the Sears Wish Book Catalog. Does that sound sad? It probably does, it should.

Yes, I grew up learning all the standard Christmas songs which included 'Away In the Manger', 'Silent Night', 'O Come All Ye Faithful', 'Little Drummer Boy.'  These songs told the tale of a baby, a very special baby who was born on Christmas Day. However, I also grew up with songs such as 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town', 'Jingle Bells', 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,' and so on and so forth. Being a child, and I think perhaps a typical child, I focused on the Santa Claus is coming to town bit and the idea of getting presents, lots of presents even if lots meant five or six, that was a lot, plus there was that stocking stuffed with candy and toys as well. We anticipated that toy catalog and we were allowed to pick out anything and everything we wanted knowing all the while we weren't likely to get most of the things, but even if we would get just one thing we were happy.

Christmas and getting gifts, Christmas and all the fancy eating! The cookies, the candy, the pies, coffee cakes, yes, this was what made Christmas special to me.  Christmas and visiting relatives for more candy, food, and favorite sodas. My lack of focus on the birth of Christ wasn't my parents fault, they took us to church, they told us the importance of gift giving, not just receiving, but my personal penchant towards selfishness kept me more self-absorbed than self-less. My treasures were not in heaven, they were wrapped in pretty paper and tied with fancy bows under the Christmas tree.

Gift getting, treasure accumulation this was all a part of my life and my happiness. I'm not proud of it at all, but it's the truth.  Putting my treasures in heaven didn't come easy and truthfully it is something I think about even to this day.

I sit here in my living room surrounded by my Christmas treasures- mostly lots of snowmen that I've collected throughout the years, but many other things as well and I know I'd be very sad to lose any of it. I have two china cabinets and only one holds china, the other is my curio cabinet with more treasures I possess. Again, treasures I wouldn't want to lose. I like to think if I lost all my earthly treasures I'd be fine, and maybe I would be, I hope I would be, by the grace of God I would be.

I'm blessed beyond measure in the earthly treasure department, but I have to wonder how my heavenly treasure storehouse fares. Treasures such as wisdom and understanding- they are heavenly treasures that are distributed to us to use on earth.

Col 2:2  That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 

Col 2:3  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in the mystery of God, the Father and Christ.

Treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Today I would circle these treasures were they offered in a catalog, but not as a child and not as an adult for many years. Treasures of the heavenly, treasure greater than precious gems.

Pro 16:16  How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! 

Imagine… wisdom better than gold! Understanding better than silver!

It truly makes sense when we are told this…

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

The only treasures that cannot be taken from us, or destroyed in some manner are heavenly treasures! Think about it for a moment. All our earthly treasures are subject to being stolen. All our earthly treasures can be destroyed, few treasures survive a fire as most people who live through house fires will tell you.  If we make people our treasures they too can be taken from us, but our faith in our heavenly Father allows us to comprehend that one day we may see our loved ones again - the great resurrection day when Christ returns for us and the dead in Christ are raised to meet Him in the air- we too will raise to meet the Lord in the air in that day and we will see all those we loved who died in the love of Christ. Losing the treasure of loved ones is a temporary loss because we place their safe keeping with our Heavenly Father.  They become a treasure  kept safe in the heavenly promise of a future resurrection.

Listen to these words of admonition-

Jas 5:1  Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 

Jas 5:2  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 

Jas 5:3  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 

Obviously earthly treasures are not to be desired, though because we live in a Satan ruled world filled with his evil we are inclined towards earthly treasures. We are inclined to believe we are successful when we have earthly treasures, the more the better. We are inclined to believe we are successful when we can give others earthly treasures. We are inclined to label ourselves and others a success when we can enjoy the supposed good things life has to offer. Our bent is towards earthly treasures and it starts at a very young age.

More on all of this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

May we learn more of the heavenly treasure especially at a time we are inclined to want to receive and even give earthly treasures.

Jesus, Our Ladder

Gen 28:17  And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 

Jacob was in fear, in complete awe, overwhelmed with the reality of the majesty of the place where He was.  The House of God- the Gate of Heaven. His spiritual eyes were opened, he was allowed to see beyond the temporal realm, the tangible existence. The vision given to him left him in complete and utter astonishment, shock flowed through him, he'd been gifted with insight into Heaven and the house of God.

A ladder.

Jacob dreamed but it wasn't an ordinary dream at all. This dream was based in reality.

Gen 28:12  And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 

Gen 28:13  And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 

Gen 28:14  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

Gen 28:15  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 

Gen 28:16  And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 

From heaven the LORD called to Jacob and renewed the same promise He gave to Abraham and Isaac. The LORD told Jacob He was with him.

The LORD was in this place Jacob said, and he didn't even know it.

How often is the LORD with us and we aren't fully comprehending of that fact? Can we push the LORD away from us? Yes. Can we park GOD at the door to our personal dens of iniquity carefully setting Him aside and hiding Him behind a closed and locked, often times barred door? Yes. On the other hand, we can cry out in the depths of despair at our own sinfulness and the LORD will answer. The supernatural super hero able to break through any and all things that would try and stand between Him and a truly repentant sinner.

Jacob was a supplanter, a deceiver… He obeyed the voice of his mother who instructed him to take the blessing of a dying Isaac who favored the oldest son over the younger. Jacob could have said no to his mother's scheming plan to steal away Esau's blessing. He didn't say no, he didn't gently remind his mother that deception was not a good thing, stealing was not a good thing, that they needed to repent of her plan. The wheels were in motion and Jacob did all that his mother instructed in order to fool the semi-senile, surely all but completely blind, Isaac. The truth that Isaac hadn't aged gracefully- keeping his senses clear to the end of his life- but was caught up in the intense deterioration that can occur in extreme old age was a fact. That he could be fooled by fur placed on arms and the scent of clothes was understandable. Jacob had to be all but trembling in fear of being caught as he wore the furry arm bands and brought the stew to his father. Yes, Jacob was caught up in deception to obtain something that didn't belong to him.

After completing the deception he was told to leave, his brother's anger against him was so great that the fear of his being murdered was very real. Told to leave the only home he'd ever known, thrust out on the heels of his deception, Jacob was being sent off to a new life one without his mother as his defender, or his father, or most gratefully at this point, his brother.

On his way to his uncle's, Jacob fell asleep that first night with stones for pillows and he dreamed the dream already discussed.

Running away after stealing what belonged to his brother, Jacob was given a dream and the blessing of Isaac was shown to be very real, even placed upon a deceiver.

The LORD was with Jacob. Jacob witnessed the truth of a ladder, a way from one realm to another. Jacob saw the way made for heaven and earth to unite and what a blessing it was for him to know that God allowed that way to be made for mankind.  The occupants of heaven- angels- would descend and ascend on that ladder, going to the aid of those in need where God sent them.

Jesus is that way, Jesus is the ladder, without Him and the sacrifice He was going to make, there wouldn't have existed a ladder in a dream for Jacob. Heaven and earth are united through the Savior. This is truth. There is but ONE ladder and that is Christ.

Joh 1:51  And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. 

Let us see heaven open and know that Jesus has made the way possible for us to receive the heavenly blessing, the hope that in all He will be with us. The angels of God will help us in our need, sustaining us in Christ through all things. There is hope. Heaven is our hope, heaven is what our Lord took on flesh and dwelt among us, suffering and dying so we could have that hope of being united with Him in all His glory! Our treasures surely are in heaven, let us keep them there, let us know they await us - salvation through the LORD JESUS CHRIST NOW AND FOREVER!!!!!!! 

Amen.

First and Foremost- God.

Today I'd like to reread a chapter from the book- The Pursuit of God.  God bless us all as we seek to have God first and foremost in our lives.

VIII (The Pursuit of God) by A. W. Tozer

Restoring the Creator-creature Relation

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.--Psa. 57:5

It is a truism to say that order in nature depends upon right relationships; to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper position relative to each other thing. In human life it is not otherwise.

I have hinted before in these chapters that the cause of all our human miseries is a radical moral dislocation, an upset in our relation to God and to each other. For whatever else the Fall may have been, it was most certainly a sharp change in man's relation to his Creator. He adopted toward God an altered attitude, and by so doing destroyed the proper Creator-creature relation in which, unknown to him, his true happiness lay. Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation
between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the Creator-creature relation. A satisfactory spiritual life will begin with a complete change in relation between God and the sinner; not a judicial change merely, but a conscious and experienced change affecting the sinner's whole nature.

The atonement in Jesus' blood makes such a change judicially possible and the working of the Holy Spirit makes it emotionally satisfying. The story of the prodigal son perfectly illustrates this latter phase. He had brought a world of trouble upon himself by forsaking the position which he had properly held as son of his father. At bottom his restoration was nothing more than a re-establishing of the father-son relation which had existed from his birth and had been altered temporarily by his act of sinful rebellion. This story overlooks the legal aspects of redemption, but it makes beautifully clear the experiential aspects of salvation.

In determining relationships we must begin somewhere. There must be somewhere a fixed center against which everything else is measured, where the law of relativity does not enter and we can say "IS" and make no allowances. Such a center is God. When God would make His Name known
to mankind He could find no better word than "I AM." When He speaks in the first person He says, "I AM"; when we speak of Him we say, "He is"; when we speak to Him we say, "Thou art." Everyone and everything else measures from that fixed point. "I am that I am," says God, "I change not."

As the sailor locates his position on the sea by "shooting" the sun, so we may get our moral bearings by looking at God. We must begin with God.

We are right when and only when we stand in a right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far and so long as we stand in any other position.

Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image.

The flesh whimpers against the rigor of God's inexorable sentence and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its carnal ways. It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He is and learning to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know Him better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy that God is just what He is. Some of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we spend in reverent admiration of the Godhead. In those holy moments the
very thought of change in Him will be too painful to endure.

So let us begin with God. Back of all, above all, before all is God; first in sequential order, above in rank and station, exalted in dignity and honor. As the self-existent One He gave being to all things, and all things exist out of Him and for Him. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev_4:11 

Every soul belongs to God and exists by His pleasure. God being Who and What He is, and we being who and what we are, the only thinkable relation between us is one of full lordship on His part and complete submission on ours. We owe Him every honor that it is in our power to give Him. Our everlasting grief lies in giving Him anything less.

The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total personality into conformity to His. And this not judicially, but actually. I do not here refer to the act of justification by faith in Christ. I speak of a voluntary exalting of God to His proper station over us and a willing surrender of our whole being to the place of worshipful submission which the Creator-creature circumstance makes
proper.

The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God over all we step out of the world's parade. We shall find ourselves out of adjustment to the ways of the world, and increasingly so as we make progress in the holy way. We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed within us; a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its outgoings.

Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God. Millions call themselves by His Name, it is true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who is _above_, and his true position will be exposed. Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God  and men, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above. However the man may protest, the proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout his life.

"Be thou exalted" is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually "Be thou exalted," and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once.

His Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic pilot. If blown off course for a moment by some adverse wind he will
surely return again as by a secret bent of the soul. The hidden motions of the Spirit are working in his favor, and "the stars in their courses" fight for him. He has met his life problem at its center, and
everything else must follow along.

Let no one imagine that he will lose anything of human dignity by this voluntary sell-out of his all to his God. He does not by this degrade himself as a man; rather he finds his right place of high honor as one made in the image of his Creator. His deep disgrace lay in his moral derangement, his unnatural usurpation of the place of God. His honor will be proved by restoring again that stolen throne. In exalting God over all he finds his own highest honor upheld.

Anyone who might feel reluctant to surrender his will to the will of another should remember Jesus' words, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." We must of necessity be servant to someone, either to God or to sin. The sinner prides himself on his independence, completely
overlooking the fact that he is the weak slave of the sins that rule his members. The man who surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel slave driver for a kind and gentle Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

Made as we were in the image of God we scarcely find it strange to take again our God as our All. God was our original habitat and our hearts cannot but feel at home when they enter again that ancient and beautiful abode. I hope it is clear that there is a logic behind God's claim to pre-eminence. That place is His by every right in earth or heaven. While we take to ourselves the place that is His the whole course of our lives is out of joint. Nothing will or can restore order till our hearts make the great decision: God shall be exalted above.

"Them that honour me I will honour," said God once to a priest of Israel, and that ancient law of the Kingdom stands today unchanged by the passing of time or the changes of dispensation. The whole Bible and every page of history proclaim the perpetuation of that law. "If any man serve me, him will my Father honour," said our Lord Jesus, tying in the old with the new and revealing the essential unity of His ways with men.

Sometimes the best way to see a thing is to look at its opposite. Eli and his sons are placed in the priesthood with the stipulation that they honor God in their lives and ministrations. This they fail to do, and God sends Samuel to announce the consequences. Unknown to Eli this law of reciprocal honor has been all the while secretly working, and now the time has come for judgment to fall. Hophni and Phineas, the degenerate priests, fall in battle, the wife of Hophni dies in childbirth, Israel flees before her enemies, the ark of God is captured by the Philistines and the old man Eli falls backward and dies of a broken neck. Thus stark utter tragedy followed upon Eli's failure to honor God.

Now set over against this almost any Bible character who honestly tried to glorify God in his earthly walk. See how God winked at weaknesses and overlooked failures as He poured upon His servants grace and blessing untold. Let it be Abraham, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah or whom you will; honor followed honor as harvest the seed. The man of God set his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact and acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention made the
difference.

In our Lord Jesus Christ this law was seen in simple perfection. In His lowly manhood He humbled Himself and gladly gave all glory to His Father in heaven. He sought not His own honor, but the honor of God who sent Him. "If I honour myself," He said on one occasion, "my honour is
nothing; it is my Father that honoureth me." So far had the proud Pharisees departed from this law that they could not understand one who honored God at his own expense. "I honour my Father," said Jesus to them, "and ye do dishonour me."

Another saying of Jesus, and a most disturbing one, was put in the form of a question, "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God alone?" Joh_5:44  If I understand this correctly Christ taught here the alarming doctrine that the desire for honor among men made belief impossible. Is this sin at the root of religious unbelief?

Could it be that those "intellectual difficulties" which men blame for their inability to believe are but smoke screens to conceal the real cause that lies behind them? Was it this greedy desire for honor from man that made men into Pharisees and Pharisees into Deicides? Is this the secret back of religious self-righteousness and empty worship? I believe it may be. The whole course of the life is
upset by failure to put God where He belongs. We exalt ourselves instead of God and the curse follows.

In our desire after God let us keep always in mind that God also hath desire, and His desire is toward the sons of men, and more particularly toward those sons of men who will make the once-for-all decision to exalt Him over all. Such as these are precious to God above all treasures of earth or sea. In them God finds a theater where He can display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. With them God can walk unhindered, toward them He can act like the God He is. In speaking thus I have one fear; it is that I may convince the mind before God can win the heart. For this God-above-all position is one not easy to take. The mind may approve it while not having the consent of the will to put it into effect. While the imagination races ahead to honor God, the will may lag behind and the man never guess how divided his heart is. The whole man must make the decision before the heart can know any real satisfaction. God wants us all, and He will not rest till He gets us all. No part of the man will do.

Let us pray over this in detail, throwing ourselves at God's feet and meaning everything we say. No one who prays thus in sincerity need wait long for tokens of divine acceptance. God will unveil His glory before His servant's eyes, and He will place all His treasures at the disposal of such a one, for He knows that His honor is safe in such consecrated hands.

_O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth's treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me decrease that Thou mayest increase, let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, "Hosanna in the highest."_

Where Is Your Treasure?

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

What do you treasure in life? Treasure…

The dictionary tells me the following about treasure-

1. Jewels and precious objects.
2. Something valuable.
3. Somebody highly valued.

I'll ask again, what do you highly value in life? What is important to you?

You wake up in the morning and you go about your day to day life and often you hear it referred to as the daily grind, the daily routine, the mundane. You wake, and do you follow a routine? Most of us do follow routines after waking up. We have things we do daily, yes, even on days off from work. A supposed typical day of life is wake, bathroom activities, get dressed, (some make their bed not all), get breakfast (again this is a typical and perhaps average day for a person, not everyone), go to work or school, or set about house keeping/child rearing duties that are legitimately work and then for those working outside the home they return home and in between there they may have lunch, then dinner later, then a lot of people relax in the evening before going to bed. In there somewhere you may shower some are morning shower takers, other evening. Of course many details are missing from this description but most people I could ask the following questions-

What time do you wake up/go to sleep everyday?

What did you have to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack yesterday?

What time do you usually go to bed?

What time of the day do you take your shower/wash up good?

When do you brush your teeth, hair?

Do you get the picture? Our lives are filled with various routines that we seldom do without. Even our weekends and time off work or out of our normal routines we will keep to some routines we have taken on as a part of our lives.

What about your life do you highly value in that day to day routine? Where is your treasure in life?

Are you one of the many, many people who find life hard on a day to day basis? Do you struggle to find value in life? Are you finding it difficult to tell me what you treasure in your life? The weight of living weighs down on a lot of people and they can answer in honesty that they don't treasure anything.  A lot of people treasure their loved ones, their family- children, parents, siblings, relatives of various kinds, and their friends, spouses of course. Some can honestly say they live for their various loved ones, meaning that life would be very, very hard without that loved one because their existence is so connected to the other person, or people, maybe even beloved pets. They find the value of their own life in the life of another.

When the Word of God tells us this…Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  

The Word is speaking truth. Where is your heart? Where do place your love?

Luk_18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

Is your treasure in heaven, is your love in heaven?

Mat_13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

When we find the kingdom of heaven (life through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior), we are finding an eternal treasure and we give all that we have to have that treasure. If we are making God the thing, the One most valuable to us in life- if our heart is with God, our love with God, then He truly is our treasure.

Does God have that place in your life? Upon opening your eyes in the morning, and closing them again at night- is God foremost on your mind because He lives in your heart and you live for Him and His will? Amid all the day to day routines we talked about above, is God a part of them? Are you willing to sacrifice anything and everything, for God? Would you die for Him? And if you'd die for Him,  do you live for Him? Where is your treasure? Is your treasure in heaven- your hope for the life you know deep down is a life worthy of living for, in heaven?  If we place our treasures on earth we most certainly will end up without the treasure of heaven and we will end up losing everything. If we lose everything we highly regard upon earth, but keep God and our heavenly treasure, we know that one day all that we placed even the smallest value upon on earth will be taken care of by God. When we give our hearts to anything upon the earth, we know we can lose that thing and it can disappear from our lives in a moment. If we keep God first, giving Him our heart, and from that we extend our hearts as He wills us to, towards others, then we can know that anything we lose on earth is a part of God's will for us and one day we will comprehend the loss, but for now we choose to trust in God's wisdom for our lives- no matter how painful in any way.

Mar_10:21  Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Luk_12:33  Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

The value of putting our treasure in heaven far exceeds any earthly treasure.  If we treasure loved ones before we treasure God, we do them no favors at all. Only God never fails, we fail time and time again. God first, others next extending from the love we have from God.

God help us put our treasures in heaven! Help us value You, LORD above all else. All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen.