Prepare-for-War

CHAPTER7

Hearing God

"Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6: 19-21

During my senior year in medical school I spent several months working in the field of oncology which is the area of medicine that cares for cancer patients. One of the things which really bothered me was the almost uniform reaction of professing Christians when they were given a diagnosis of having cancer. They all simply fell apart! I could not un derstand why this was so. As I sought the Lord in prayer as to the reason for this, He gave me the above scripture verses in answer. Christians, for the most part are not laying up treasures in heaven. Their treasures are here on earth, and so are their hearts. That is why they are so devastated at the prospect of experiencing death in the rela tively near future. This brought me to the next question. Exactly what are "treasures in heaven?" The few sermons I had ever heard on the subject interpreted treasures in heaven to be the good works Christians had done during their lives for the Lord. But, that didn't seem to be the answer as many of the Christians with whom I worked who had such a hard time accepting death had done many "good works" for the Lord during their lives. Obviously, "works" was not the answer.

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