“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” - Mathew 6:19-20 (NIV).
They used to be known as the Rich Gang, a group of young men from Uganda swimming in money they had scooped from their handsome deals. The story is that the founder member of the group Ivan Semwanga had a stint in a shrine from where he picked up a few tricks. As a businessman he would go on to establish a chain of schools in South Africa, marry a famous artist, and put up a string of mansions around Kampala.
Ivan and his gang loved to throw parties. He spent billions of shillings on his introduction and wedding to the artist he married. During some of those parties he would throw money at his guests, as a feat. So when he died of a heart attack the surviving members of the Rich Gang thought just as well. As they lowered his casket they threw money down his grave. Of course the public was not amused and there even threats to exhume his body for destroying legal tender.
What is of interest to us here is how the world sees death. Instead of recognizing that even whatever many things one might have accumulated we all leave them behind, still, as we see the world clings on, hoping that one could go on with those treasures. The ancient Egyptians did it and as we know only for the tombs of pharaohs to be raided by trophy hunters. We would do better to store our treasures elsewhere into the everlasting kingdom of God.
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Prayer for today: Lord Father in heaven, today I pray that I am ever mindful of storing the treasures which I have in your everlasting kingdom.
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
