Counterfeit Treasures

 
Jesus warns us about having the wrong treasures. He states unequivocally that we will either have treasures on earth or in heaven:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”—Matt. 6:21

But that sort of binary statement seems a tad too pedantic. We argue – against Jesus, by the way – saying, “Oh, that is just too black and white. I can manage a balance with treasures in both places.”

Jesus says you cannot. One will become a master, and the other relegated to a distant second, or even last place:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”—Matt. 6:24

I have found that the things that I treasured in the past turned out to be counterfeit treasures. As a matter of fact, my pre-Jesus masters were all counterfeit treasures. They glittered but were nowhere near true gold. Sadly, it took a long time to realize this. I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened much quicker.

The Counterfeit Life

A friend from the West Coast was telling me his own counterfeit story. You are going to love this.

He had been a hot shot, making lots of money, and was a well-known personality in his community. But he collapsed his life with gambling and drugs and soon lost everything. And I mean everything. He found himself working as a day laborer, just trying to survive. He was behind in paying alimony and child support, barely able to even feed himself. A friend gave him a place to live, so he wasn’t homeless, but just barely.

Thankfully he found Jesus in the midst of his trials.

He told me this story: “Sam, recently I was able to scrape together enough money to pay my alimony and child support, but I realized I was $100.00 short. For years I had been saving a $100 bill from one of my first paycheck. It was in my safe, and to be frank, it was a treasured treasure – a reminder of how successful I was and how far I had come from that first paycheck.

“I went to my safe to get the $100 bill and took it to the bank to cover the $100.00 shortfall. But when I tried to deposit it, the teller informed me it was a counterfeit bill.

“Suddenly I realized what this counterfeit bill represented: My entire previous life! My entire life before Jesus was counterfeit – just like this bill. That $100 bill, that I had preserved and treasured all those years, was as fake as I was all those years. I started to cry, but then almost burst out laughing!

“Sam, I could sense Jesus, my new Savior, yes, and fast becoming my new best friend, just smiling his warm and loving smile, and saying, ‘Okay my dear child, that life is now behind you. No more counterfeit treasures, no more counterfeit life for you. You are now mine, and together we are moving ahead, deeper into the Kingdom, where there is no counterfeit, and where all that glitters is indeed gold.’”

May you take a close look at the treasures in your life and see the counterfeit ones for what they are. Take them out of the safe, and leave them behind, as you move deeper into the Kingdom of God.