Living with the end in view involves
Setting Heavenly Priorities
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19–21)
My wife stores her wedding dress in a custom box out of reach of our son’s prying hands. I keep my tools in several sturdy wooden drawers, and my artwork in a wooden storage area where they can stay flat.
In the verses above, Jesus gives us a choice of where we want to store our treasures. We may store them on earth, where they are subject to decay and theft. However, we may enjoy them only as long as we spend our lives here. Or we may store them in heaven, where they are not subject to destruction and can be enjoyed forever.
We cannot store our earthly valuables such as bank accounts, coins, electronics, heirlooms, hobbies, or clothing in heaven even if we wanted to. We can store only treasures of spiritual value in heaven. So we must therefore decide which kinds of goals to pursue in this life, strictly material, or spiritual.
Paul the apostle wrote,
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. (1 Cor. 3:11–15)
If honoring Jesus is the foundation for my decisions, I know I shall heap up such treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones as would endure God’s fire of testing. If I am merely reacting to the day’s events without taking Christ into account, I am piling up combustible materials for the fire to come. I want a lasting treasure to enjoy forever. If I set my heart on eternal things above (“Lord, what do you want me to do today?”), there my treasure will be also.
What goals of your past six months will endure God’s fiery scrutiny in heaven? How can you pursue Christ in the next six months so as to lay up treasures in heaven? Here is Paul’s rule of thumb: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23–24).
Living with the end in view means setting spiritual priorities that help establish treasures in heaven.
Steps of faith:
Overcome covetousness.
Bring decisions to the Lord
Renew faltering spiritual exercises.
–Steve Husting
Selection from Living with the End in View, Book 1, Steve Husting
