Lasting Treasures - No. 71

Matthew 6:19-21 RAV, “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.”

I received a phone call from an Above Rubies reader. “God has visited us,” she told me with excitement. She was bursting with the news of the conception of their tenth baby! It was her seventh conception after a reversal.

As we chatted together, she shared how her and her husband feel sorry for their friends who were all sterilized at the same time as they were after having two children. When they meet up with them from time to time the notice the boringness of their lives. All of their “two children” have grown up and they have to find things to fill their uninteresting lives. The wives go out to work each day and then they have to find entertainment to fill their lives for the rest of the time.

“But our lives are so full,” she exclaimed. “We have these six extra precious children filling our home, children that we may not ever have had if God hadn’t revealed to us the error of our ways. We are filled with joy every day. We are never bored. Our lives are full and complete. God is so good.”

This mother is not only filled with joy. She is employed full-time by God. She is doing a lasting work. She is involved in an eternal mission to mold her children for heaven. She is not deceived by the things of this world that will one day pass away.

Another mother and teen daughter were visiting with me this morning. They had stopped at two children, but later the husband had a reversal from his vasectomy and now God has blessed them with three little ones. As the 18-year old daughter held the youngest baby, she exclaimed, “We were such a boring family before we had these children. Now we are constantly laughing at the things they do and say.”

A young mother shared with me recently how many of her friends waited a number of years before having children after they married. Now that they have their “two” children, they constantly talk of the fun they had before they had children and confess that they can’t wait for their children to be off their hands so they can enjoy their own pleasures again.

Unfortunately this attitude subconsciously tells the children they are a nuisance. This in turn affects their behavior so they become difficult to handle. Because they have more behavior problems, the parents begin to dislike parenting and want to vacate the home more than ever. It is a vicious circle.

On the other hand, I think of a lovely family of seven children who lived in our home recently. The children are well trained and beautifully behaved. Each morning the mother would get up and exclaim, “How come I am so blessed to be the mother of these children?” She is awed at the privilege of being their mother.

You cannot find satisfaction and freedom by being released from your tedious circumstances. You cannot find true freedom by making sure you cannot have any more children. Oh yes you may be free of more children, but other things in life will dominate you instead. We all fill our lives with things. We have a choice.

You can fill your life and your home with precious gifts from God. Or you can fill your life with your own interests and career. You can invest in material pursuits and temporal pleasures. I’m sure you will enjoy yourself but it will only be for this life. Every temporal thing we invest in will one day be forgotten. Every material possession we spend time acquiring will be left behind. But children will live forever. They are a lasting possession.

Why not fill your life with the lasting treasures?

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

 

PRAYER:

“Oh God, show me what is real and lasting. Please lead me back to your way when my life gets entangled with the things of this world. Lead me back to the true riches. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION: